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UNITED STATES, CUBA AND CANADA. 



BY THE 

HOIS'. AMELIA M. MUKEAY. 



.TWO rOLUJfEJ Cg:iIPLLT.'C /^V OJr:. 



KEW YOEK: 
G. P. PUTNAM & COMPANY, 321 BROADWAY, 

OPPOSITE PEARL STREET. 

1856. 



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John F. Trow, 

Printer and Stereotyper. Nos. 377 & 379 Broadway, 
Corner of Whke street. 



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PEEFACE. 



The writer of these letters did not cross tlie Atlantic to 
make a book. She has no wish to enter into controversy, 
or to be sujiposed a partisan ; but facts can never injure 
truth, on whichever side it may lie ; and statements made 
with fidelity and accuracy ought to be welcome. To 
shrink from their perusal is to exclude (in the present 
case) one means of knowing the condition and probable 
future of that race for whom a deep interest is felt by 
the British public, as well as by the writer of these pages, 
however different her convictions may be from the opin- 
ions commonly maintained. 

Should anything here written excite bitter feelings, or 
cause individual pain, the error must not be thought in- 
tentional. A. M. M. 



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CONTENTS. 



LETTER L p^ob 

The voyage to Halifax— Our Fellow- passengers — A novel Reviver .... 9 

LETTER II. 
Boston— The Harbour— The First Luxury— Mount Auburn Cemetery— My Present 
Plans— The Athenjeum— Pleasant Location—' Look-out for the Locomotive ' — 
An Agreeable Introduction. — Botanical Researches 13 

LETTER IIL 
Wenham Lake— Cockle-Craft— Eagle Head— Boston — S-tatue of "Washington- New- 
port — Water Quadrilles — A New Vegetable— American Kindness — Dr. Howe . 27 

LETTER lY. 

Boston— The Slavery Question 87 

LETTER V. 
The "White Mountains Tour— Railway Arrangements— Alton Bay— The Paper Birch 
— Centre Harbour— New Acquaintance — Mount "Willard— A Hasty Judgment — 
The Hotel House— The Profile House— Forest Fires 40 

LETTER VL 
Pleasant Rambles — The Flume — An Evening Party — The White Mountains — Pem- 
mewhasset — Wells River — An Early Breakfast — Burlington — Connecticut River 
— Rattlesnakes — Quebec — ^Night Yoyage — Spencer Wood 49 

LETTER YIL 
Quebec— Spencer Wood— A Comparison — A Paradox— Lord Elgin— The House of 
Deputies — The Premier's Speech— Deeds, not Words— Monsieur Brodeur — In- 
consistencies , 59 

LETTER YIIL 
Quebec — The Clergy Reserves— The Industrial Exhibition — A Malcontent— A Bo- 
tanical Excursion — Curious Meteoric Light — Yisit to a Squaw — Yariable Wea- 
ther—Canadian Pensioners — Lord Elgin— Canadian Ladies 71 



6 CONTENTS. 

LETTER IX. PAOB 

Montreal— Yictoria Bridge— St. Ililaire— A Pretty Edifice— Silver Heights— Ottawa 
Eiver— Le Petite Nation— The Massacre— Natural History— Falls of the Ottawa 
—Officious Care— A Field for Enterprise 85 

LETTER X. 
Lake Ontario— Eideau Canal— Autumn Forest-Tints- Lord Elgin— Seat of Govern- 
ment—The Future of Canada— Elver St. Lawrence— Primitive Locomotion — 
Eice Lake— Toronto— Toronto Cathedral— Demonstration at Hamilton— Milton- 
Falls of Niagara— A Profitable Estate 98 

LETTER XL 

Niagara— Manners of the Squaws— An Old Irishwoman— Lakes Erie and St. Clair — 
Detroit — A perfect Panorama — Sandwich— A Penitent Eunaway — Scarcity of 
Servants— Cleveland— Battle of the Alma— Cayuga Lake— Ithaca— 'Forest City' 
—Homer 112 

LETTER XIL 
Albany— Governor Seymour— A Transatlantic "Wedding— The Museum— The Slave 
Problem— The American Clergy— The Penitentiary— Indian Thanksgivings- 
Origin of the Party Names— A Paternal Governor— A Manxman— Youthful ^ 
Heroism— Community of Shakers — The Letter of the Law— Probabilities . 12| . 

LETTER XIIL 
New York— The Broadway— Greenwood Cemetery— Eev. Henry Ward Beecher— 
Philanthropic Institutions— Social Engagements— Doctrine of Compensations — 
The Maine Law— "Washington Irving— An Unbiassed Testimonial— Sectarian 
Assumption — Hopes for the Future - . 144 

LETTER XIY. 
New York— The Five Points— Dogmatism— Baltimore — Sisters of Charity— "Wash- 
ington— The Capitol and Museum— Negroes and their Masters— A Motley As- 
semblage— The Twig and Tree 158 

LETTER XY. 
The New Year— "Washington and Andr6— Character of the ' Know-nothings '—Oc- 
cupation of Congress— Smithsonian Institute— "Woman's Mission— Cuba and her 
"Wrongs— A Questionable Alternative — A Postulate 168 

LETTEE XYL 

"Washington- Papal Jurisdiction— Extinction of the Tribes— Presidential Evening- 
Mormon Domesticity— offers of Marriage— Characteristics of the South Ameri- 
can Indifference— Benjamin Franklin— Richmond— The Observatory— Eailroad 
Companions— Unpleasant Incidents— Statue of "Washington— General Dilapida- 
tion— Charlottesville— The University— Eoad to Staunton— Lexington— Perils on 
the Eoad— The Natural Bridge— Scenery on the Powhatan— Geological Features — 
Links Canal-boat— Petersburg— Wilmington— Mr. Gushing on the War— Superior 
Cultivation— Black Servants 17> 

LETTER XYIL 

Charleston— Masters and Slaves—' Uncle Tom's Cabin '—Darkies as Nurses— North 
, and South— Negro Characteristics— The Tillandsia Usnoides— Botanizing— Mag- 
nolia Cemetery— Southern Habits— Belmont— Observations on Slavery . . 19T 



CONTENTS. 7 

LETTER XVIII. paob 
^ Savannah, Georgia— A Rebecca— Negro Cliaracter— Mistake of English Philanthro- 
] pists — Buonaventura Cemetery — A Collision — Return to Savanah— Darie)i — Plan- 
tation— The African Race— Misdirected Zeal— Debts of the States— An Unfavor- 
able Contrast— Negro Indolence— Alligators 210 

LETTER XIX. 

j,'Hopeton—Topsy— Slave Honesty— Brunswick— A Primitive Post-Office— Palatka— 
A Shell Land— Silver Spring— Botanizing— Democratic Despotism— Tea Ser- 
vice—The Silver Spring — Hotels in America— Tiger Cat— Log-Dwelling — Ocala 
— Old Dick's View of Slavery — Panthers— Jacksonville — Charleston— Unusual 
Cold 224 

LETTER XX. 
The Genuine Sea-Serpent— Lighthouse — Key West — Approach to the Harbor — 
Havana — The Anti-Slavery Movement— Buyers and Sellers— Mrs. Crawford's 
Reception — A Spanish Dog— Pic-Nic — The Capitan Generale— Negro Depreda- 
tions — The Coolies — Yolantes — Matanzas — Cocoa-Nuts — Sugar-Crushing — Yamorri 
— Geological Speculations' 239 

LETTER XXL 

Matanzas— Monsieur 's Plantation — Sympathy with the Cubans — Aboriginal Race 

— Return to Havana — Anecdote of a Slave Merchant— Abolitionist Notions — 
The Cabanos — Filibusterers — Turpitude of the Blacks — Ramon Pinto — Popular 
Sports— Snake Milker— Position of England— The Future of Cuba— Spanish Misrule 
— Execution of Ramon Pinto — Mrs. Stowe— Low Moral Condition of the Cubans 
— New Orleans . . . ' . 254 

LETTER XXIL 
y New Orleans — Musquito Net — Slavery v. Freedom — A Penitent Fugitive — Separa- 
tion of Negro Families — The Opera — Cuban "Watch Cries — Cuban Law — Dinner 
at the British Consul's — In the Bush— Railroad Accidents— Chatawa— Detention 
at Osyka — Asylum for Widows — Negro ' Privilege '—Unhealthy Locality— Pinto's 
Conspirdcy— Remarks on Slavery— Diorama of Pilgrim's Progress — The Mississippi 
— Liberia — A Paternal Slaveholder— A High-mettled Racer — British Heroism — 
Address to Americans ........ 263 

LETTER XXIII. 
Clerical View of Slavery — Transatlantic Sympathy— Negro Character , . 287 

LETTER XXIV. 
Indian Tribes — Parisian Perruquiers — Bayou Navigation — Route to Washington — 
Planetary Conjunction — Homed Frogs — Fossilized Forest — A Lonely Situation — 
Crocket — Dignity of a Texan Hostess — Alexandria — Novel Road- Making — Pros- 
pect for Emigrants— Birds and Snakes— Red River— Scarcity of Workmen- 
Letter on Slavery— Fireflies— Effects of a Drought— Eclipse of the Moon . 290 

LETTER XXV. 
Street Architecture — Stockport — Montgomery — An Aunty — An Intelligent Negro — 
Stone Mountain — A Polite Guide — An Obliging Landlord — A Juvenile Coach- 
man— American Romancing—' Cactus Rattailiense ' — Achille Murat— Nashville — 
Mrs. Polk 808 



8 CONTENTS. 

LETTER XXYI. ^vgb 

Mammoth Cave — Treatment of Travellers— A Slave Guide — Mocking-birds— Even- 
tualities — A'Negro Beauty — Louisville — Cincinnati — The Victoria Ecgia — A Gener- 
. ic Term— Future of Cincinnati— A Precipice Town— Dr. Johnson on Slavery — 
,^-Ex^arnpT(?— Sunday BchborTcachTng^^^^^^^^ Expectant Millenarian — Benevolent 
Ifistitutions— Democracy and Despotism — A Consistent Ecpublican — A Govern- 
or's Lev6e— Music in America— The Stone Mountain — The Bluffs of the White 
Eiver— Error of Editorship— English Aristocracj'- Calling Names — The Temper- 
ance Legislature — Bribery ... . . . . . 819 

LETTEE XXYII. 
Albany — A "Wedding— Ticonderoga—Thunderstorm-Girard College — A Coal District 
— Travelling by Gravitation — Increase of Episcopacy — Geological Eiches— Mon- 
trose — ^Novel Churn — Valley of Peace— Baptism and Confirmation — Elmira — Lake 
Eosa— Pleasant Travellers— Utica— Bishop Elliott on Slavery — A Negro "Wedding 
— A Negro Funeral— Indian ' Sacred Stone ' — Cazenovia— Fine Prospects — Ornitho- 
logy — Eural Hotel— American Excavator — A Forest Swamp — Trenton Falls — The 
Boiling Pot 338 

LETTEE XSSVIII. 
Indian Nomenclature — A Shaker Village— Cambridge— A Troublesome Negro — "Whites 
in the Northern States— Slavery an Ordination of God— A Brotherly Act — Travel- 
ling-bag—Life-preserver — The "Wise Men of the "West— Inhabited Planets— Frozen 
"Wells— The Zodiacal Light— Gigantic Frog— Free Black Mortality— "Wheatley 
Lead Mines— Mr. Abbott Lawrence— Military Cadets — Palace of the Hills — Cuats- 
kill "Waterfall — Educational Convention — Staten Island — East Eiver — American 
Crystal Palace— Ailanthus Glandulosa ...... 353 

LETTEE XXIX. 

Saratoga— Miacreants-Lake George— Gipsy Expedition— Our Progress— Saranac Lake 
— Our First Encampment— Preparations for Breakfast— Good Fishing— Deer Hunt- 
ing — Our Tents — Our Toilet — Long Lake — ' A Fix ' — Variety of Funguses — A 
Stormy Night — A Picturesque Medley — The Eight Lakes — A "Word to Travellers 
—Modern Mirandus—' Necessity has no Law' — Departure of the Guides — A Neg- 
lected Eoad — Early Memories — Blind Owen — A Prairie District — American and 
English Soldiers — Uncourteous Manners ...... 374 

LETTEE XXX. 
Aboriginal City — St. LoUis — Chicago — Alton — '"Women' and 'Ladies' — Milwaukie — 
Iron Mountain— State Fair — A "Word to Travellers — "Want of Consideration — 
American Society— Dark Eooms — The ' Lady Elgin ' — "Wilful Misdirection— Silu- 
rian Fossils— Indian Names— Eemarks on Slavery— Epilogue . . ,893 



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LETTER I. 

THE VOYAGE TO HALIFAX. 

On Board tue Canada, 
Banks of Newfoundland, July 29, 1S54, 



My Dear Friends, — 

A week ago, on the 22nd, we left the Mersey at 11 o'clock, 
A. M. ; but this is the first moment that head, hands, and eyes have 
been willing to work together for the purpose of writing. Captain 
Stone says he may put letters into a bag at Halifax, and that we 
are likely to arrive there on Monday night or Tuesday morning, 
so I will try to have this ready. 

Good, kind Mr. and Mrs. Rathbone had exhausted every pos- 
sible thought for my present and future comfort ; and Mr. Rath- 
bone crowned all by conveying me to the steamer in the Jackal 
mail tender at the last moment, that I might not spend a single 
unnecessary hour on board. 

The sun shone cheerily, the lively breeze was but just suffi- 
cient to give a gay jaunty air to flags and sails, and no sensation, 
either sad or nervous, afi'ected me, to mar the pleasant scene. I 
found my two companions already in the ship, and my case of 
plants happily established behind the wheel-house, where the 
steersman sits comfortably sheltered, and almost hidden from 
view. 

I arranged my cushions, cloaks, and books on the deck, so as 
to make me a back of the mizen-mast, ahd in the persuasion that 
I was about to pass a most agreeable and intellectual afternoon, I 



10 THE VOYAGE TO HALIFAX. 

sat down to enjoy myself, witli Mrs. F by my side. I had 

often heard of the Bell buoy, but no very particular idea had 
ever been suggested by its name. In the reality, however, there 
was something very solemn and affecting — its deep-measured 
musical sound booming over the sea. It called up the first sad- 
dening thought that had yet crossed my imagination — the 
thought, that for how many gallant ships that had gone forth, 
hopeful and cheerful as our own, had it tolled a knell. 

The wind freshened, the motion deepened, and in less than an 
hour my companion was compielled to desert me. I endeavoured 
to preserve a stout opinion of my own good sailorship, and opened 
a book, but as that demanded too much attention, I changed it 
for the Illustrated London Neivs, of which I accomplished one 
column, and then tried a nap. Thus I maintained my position 
till about three o'clock, when no resolution would longer avail, 
and I was forced to call for help, I almost threw myself into 
the arms of the stewardess, who still asserts that I am an excel- 
lent sailor ; I am willing to believe her, as I never arrived at the 
conclusion of most great sufferers, that it would be a mercy to 
throw me overboard ; and on Monday I created quite a sensation 
among the stewards in the saloon, by appearing ready dressed for 
breakfast soon after seven o'clock, oblivious of the fact that eight 
o'clock soon becomes seven in crossing the Atlantic. However, 
no harm was done. I sat down, and found myself able to read 
through the Illustrated Neivs, which had become incomprehensi- 
ble to me at the second page on Saturday ; and though that was 
the extent of my literary efforts for twenty-four hours, I hailed it 
as a symptom of convalescence. My friends on board were still 
hors de combat ^ and did not revive to an enjoyment of existence 
until two days later. On Tuesday, Hugh Miller's ScJiools and 
Schoolmasters became a source of great pleasure to me ; and to- 
day I can write as well as read without inconvenience. There 
are not more than three or four English among our fellow-passen- 
gers. Canadians, G-ermans, French, but chiefly Americans, make 
up a hundred guests, entertained in the chief saloon by our 
captain. Not more than twenty of these are women. There are 



OUR FELLOW-PASSENGERS. 11 

seventy-four second-class passengers besides. All are kind, socia- 
ble and gentlemanly. Three of the men were formerly known to 

my friend, Mrs. F , and I am becoming well acquainted with 

them. It is very agreeable, as well as useful, to have some gen- 
tlemen in the party from whom we can ask and receive kind 
offices without scruple ; and when these are bestowed by men of 
cultivated minds and Christian courtesy, improvement as well as 
pleasure must be the result of the voyage. 

Sunday^ July 30. — Such a lovely morning. Air enough, sun 
enough, sea enough. But I missed seeing three whales, and also 
a sight of the Asia steamer on her way to Liverpool, by my 
doubts as to the propriety of making my appearance on deck 
soon after five in the morning, as I did yesterday. Captain 
Stone, however, promised to send a messenger to my cabin door 
on future occasions of the same kind. 

We had two magnificent sunsets on the passage — one last 
night and one on Thursday. I had never till now beheld the sun 
go down without a cloud or speck of land in sight. It was very 
striking, A young silvery moon stood just above us, and the 
scene reminded me of Turner's picture^ ' The Old Temeraire.' 

It seems we passed Newfoundland early in the morning, and 
I would have ' turned out ' to see it, had I known in time. 
Yesterday we were on the Banks, and saw one schooner drawing 
up cod-fish out of the water. Some fog attended our passage 
over these Banks, which are so called because soundings can be 
made over them, while the main sea is unfathomable. 

Health is now restored to the passengers. A cheerful tone 
of feeling pervades the saloon, where we all resort to read, write, 
play at chess, or whist; converse in groups or pairs, or take a 
sound nap in the midst of noise and bustle. 

In our whole society, I do not find one person acquainted 
with the vegetable world, except as regards the edible individuals 
belonging to it. One poor lady was distressed j'-esterday at the 
apparent failure of her endeavour to cultivate, and revive a little 
plant of Mimulus moschatus, by sending it to the ice-house. I 
rescued the poor thing from the frozen regions, cut off its perished 



12 THE VOYAGK TO HALIFAX. 

shoots, and begged its owner to give it a sunny berth with a 
tumbler placed over it to save the yet surviving roots from the 
sea-spray ; but life was too far gone to recover it. 

I was fortunate before leaving England, accidentally entering 
a bookseller's shop in Leamington, to find two interesting new 
publications, Hugh Miller's Schools and Schoolmasters^ and Mur- 
chison's Siluria. They not only interest me deeply, but afford 
pleasant reading to my associates. 

July 31. — The sun set in a bank of clouds, and we have had 
some wind and rain in the night ; finding my berth close, I was 
on deck very early. The Captain of an American merchant ship 
showed me a Mother Gary's chicken which was flying just above 
the water near us. He gave a decided opinion that the best manner 
of combating sea-sickness is by determined exertion, and by get- 
ting up as soon as possible after the first attack. He says the 
first effort is equally great whether it is made the second day or 
the twentieth ; he has known people keep their bed eighteen days, 
and suffer just as much at the end of that time in their attempts 
to sit upright as they could have done seventeen days sooner ; so 
that the earlier the battle is begun the sooner it is over. This 
morning there is more sea than we have yet had, and I bear it 
well. It is expected that we may reach Halifax late this after- 
noon, perhaps not till eight or nine o'clock in the evening. I 
shall be sorry if the hour will not allow us to land ; but I am 
told that it is a custom among the inhabitants to light up their 
houses when the arrival of the steamer is known, and that will be 
a pretty sight. In case I should not be able to add to this letter, 
I will conclude it now. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 






LETTEK n. 



BOSTON 



On Board the Canada. ) 
August 1, 1854 J 

My dear Friends, — 

My letter was put into the ship bag before we arrived in 
the fine Bay of Halifax, about nine o'clock last evening. An 
hour earlier we could have seen the town and distant country to 
greater advantage ; but it would have been ungrateful indeed to 
require more, when we were already blessed by so much. An off- 
shore wind, soft and balmy ; the sea like an inland lake, reflect- 
ing, as in a golden mirror, each little boat ; brilliant paths of light, 
derived from moon or lighthouse, or shore lamp ; a full round red 
sun had sunk behind the town and bay, but he left behind him an 
hour's twilight of crimson and gold, which had also vanished be- 
fore our ship touched the Nova Scotian shore. We made a party 
for walking about Halifax by moonlight. The streets appear to 
consist of rather irregular, low houses, built chiefly of long thin 
boards, called ' clap-boards,' with shingle roofs. I am told these 
houses are painted bright colours, but it was too dark to see this. 
We stumbled along the dimly lighted streets, and at last took our 
way up a steep one, which led to the Battery Hill. From thence 
we had a fine moonlight view of the town and bay. We also saw 
the supports of the electric telegraph, and passed by-two chapels, 
and some trees of a kind there was not sufficient light to recognize, 
but my companions thought they were the Button wood {Plata- 



14 BOSTON. 

nus). There was music in some of the houses — universally 
Scotch airs — 'Johnny Cope,' 'Annie Laurie,' &c., &c. As a 
Scotchwoman, I felt sure of a welcome, if I had wished to intrude 
upon the performers. We returned to the Caiiada before she 
fired her guns to announce our approaching departure. The echo 
of these guns was the loudest and finest I ever heard, reverber- 
ating like thunderclaps all down the coast. We steamed forth 
about eleven o'clock, Jupiter in the east, and the whole sky bright 
with the brightest stars, and meteors could be seen frequently 
striking across the heavens. About twelve we were asleep in our 
berths, and I slept late ; but it is a beautiful morning, so that we 
can walk the deck and admire the still sea and the coming shore. 
Our last dinner was all conviviality and merriment, everybody 
complimented everybody, and particularly the captain ; and most 
of us agree it will be useless to go to bed again, certainly not to 
sleep, so impatient are we for the first sight of Boston, which 
is expected to be visible at sunrise. 

August 3. — I think the Bay of Boston must be as wide as 
that extending from the island of Portland to the Start, in 
England. Nearing the harbor, I expected to see trees, but the 
low downs and numerous islands which surround it, though green, 
are bare of anything but houses. It is the finest harbour I 
have yet seen, and I should imagine might be made as impreg- 
nable as Cronstadt, if as many batteries were planted upon its 
numerous islands — one only, defends the entrance. I now feel 
as if everything round me belonged to some of the Leicester- 
square life-like Panoramas ; my voyage seems a dream, and facts 
unxe^y. Once in the harbour, if blinded and turned twice round, 
it would be difficult to say at which point we became embayed, 
and surrounded by the islands and capes — vessels sailing about, 
or at anchor, in every direction. Owing to our quick voyage, 
the Niagara (sister of Canada)^ which leaves at twelve to-day, 
for Liverpool, had not vacated her berth ; therefore our captain 
was obliged to lay-to, and await her departure. We arrived 
about nine o'clock, and the Custom-house appeared to ignore our 
presence for some time ; in fact, I suppose they would rather not 



THE FIRST LUXURY. 16 

have us upon their hands till they get rid of the other two Cu- 
nard steamers, the Niagara and the Alps; and it was an hour or 
two before a Tug came to take luggage and passengers ashore. 
This was not objectionable to me, because it gave me time enough 

to look about ; but it was trying to Mrs. F , who had 

brothers and sisters waiting to receive her, after five years' absence. 
The first thing which charmed me on landing was the cleanliness 
of the wharves, and the complete absence of sea or harbour 
odours. No sensation reminded one of departed miseries ; in this 
Boston has a great advantage over Dover and Folkestone, where 
one is made sensible (in some degree at all times, and specially at 
low tide) of a commingling of mud, gas, and sewers, which is cer- 
tainly not consoling for the past, or promising for the future. 
The Custom-house of&cers were civil and obliging, bothering us 
as little as possible ; but the large number of passengers coming 
and going, and an avalanche of boxes and packages, made it im- 
possible, even for Americans, to ' go ahead ; ' and so we had to 
wait for three mortal hours in the chairs they set for us,, under a 
tolerably cool shed. 

Mrs. F 's brother, Mr. C , then procured a carriage, 

and cart for our baggage, and I was taken to the Tremont Hotel, 
in their way to his house in Chestnut Street. I found a pleasant 
drawing-room for the occupation of ladies, and bedrooms for self 
and maid, and a kind fellow-passenger to take charge of me at the 
table-d'hote. I found excellent cucumbers, boiled maize, un- 
dressed tomatoes, baked fish, and lobsters — pleasant cool diet to 
a person suddenly plunged into a heat beyond our most extreme 
dog-days. The first luxury I welcomed with gratitude was the 
abundance of ice — a jug of ice water placed even in my bedroom 
— on the table of the ladies' saloon, and everywhere at meals. 

After dinner, Mr. D was so obliging as to procure tickets for 

a garden, five or six miles off, belonging to Mr. Cushing, and also 
for Auburn Cemetery. Mr. Cushing's flower garden and houses 
are considered the finest in New England ; but they were not 
beyond a third-rate or fifth-rate in our old country. The fruit- 
houses seemed in good order — the flower-houses not more than 



16 BOSTON. 

tolerable ; I saw no plants that were not old acquaintances of 
mine in most of our gardens, with the exception of one, a creeping 
annual or biennial, which had been allowed to ramble over the 
flower-beds ; the gardener (a young Irishman) could not tell the 
name of it. Its foliage and buds looked like a soft woolly con- 
volvulus, the flowers double, each separate one, when plucked, in 
size and form like a flaccid pink Soapwort. The gardener told 
me of two pretty wild plants which had particularly struck him 
in the neighbourhood ; from his description one might be a Sara- 
cenia, the other some species of Ornithogalon. I asked Captain 
Stone's hospitality for my precious Ward's case of plants on 
board the Canada till I can make the acquaintance of Dr. Gray, 
to whom I wish to consign them. They have flourished since 
their emigration, as all plants in hermetically sealed cases do 
flourish. 

My American friend, after our visit to the garden, conveyed 
me to Mount Auburn Cemetery, that last resting-place , for 
humanity, an example of what I hope, some day, to see copied in 
the neighbourhood of London. In feeling and taste it is really 
perfect. No crowding up in disgusting heaps like our own church- 
yards. Shade, elegance, and that stillness so soothing to the grief, 
the recollections, and the hearts of surviving friends — a place 
interesting to strangers, and not disagreeable even to the young 
and gay. The burying-ground of each family is as nearly as 
possible alike in size, all fenced off by strong but neat and pretty 
iron railings, with small gates ; over the front of every entrance, 
simple surnames and Christian names belonging to first purcha- 
sers, with dates, all in iron ; each family is permitted to place 
monuments and tombs within its own enclosure. I do not know 
if there is any check which may stop the exercise of atrociously 
bad taste ; but by some means or other this must be effected, for all 
the tombs are simple and inoffensive, and some of the monuments 
beautiful. I was surprised to see that a few were protected by 
glass, particularly one pretty recumbent statue of a child. Nearly 
all the erections are pure white marble ; generally low obelisks 
or slabs. I saw not one objectionable in feeling or in taste, and 



MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY. 17 

no pompous fulsome epitaphs. ' Implora Pace'' might have been 
inscribed over the entrance of this cemetery, without causing 
any revulsion of sentiment within its precincts ; in this matter, 
certainly, the mother land may well take some hints from her 
child's example. As we drove away a man offered a bunch of 
water-lilies for sale (or rather buds which are to open to-morrow). 
My companion gave me three. He tells me they have long- 
shaped, sweet white blossoms ; and the stems are very long. I 
saw no leaves ; but it is certainly not our Thames white water- 
lily ; this one is Nympheea odorata. Last night the closed buds 
looked too firmly shut for me to see them soon open, but even 
before sunshine has touched them, at eight o'clock this morningj 
they are wide awake. I see no difference between them and ours, 
except that the petals are longer and more pointed, but they have 
a much more pleasant scent. Our drive was through a thickly- 
inhabited suburb, going by Brookline and returning by Cambridge 
and Harvard College ; one country house and villa succeeding 
another. The architecture and elevations, and green external 
blinds, make them much resemble houses around Frankfort; 
but apparently they have arisen so fast, that there has not been 
time enough to ornament the gardens with flowers ; a rather 
rough lawn, with a few shrubs, chiefly Arbor vitas and Pinus, 
perhaps a tree Hibiscus here and there, was most commonly all. 
The general aspect of Boston, with the exception of a few of the 
principal houses, say, '■ We have been in such a hurry, we must 
finish by-and-by.' But I don't dislike the appearance of the 
unhewn grey stone, a granite of which some of them are built. 
When of brick, in this neighbourhood, the colour is more pink and 
less glaring than ours. Soon after my return to the hotel. Miss 

C came and brought a sister, sister-in-law, and a nephew to 

see me ; and afterwards Mr. D introduced Mr. and Mrs. Mills 

(the latter a daughter of a benevolent agriculturist, Mr. Colman, 
who died in England) ; on her return home, she kindly sent me a 
beautiful nosegay, and this morning Mr. D , before his de- 
parture for New York, left me two more letters of introduction 
for Nahant, where I think of going this afternoon, as I find Mr. 



18 BOSTON. 

and Mrs. Longfellow are there, and I much wish to see them ; 
besides which, this town is like a bakery, it is so hot. I shall 

probably visit Mr. and Mrs. B , at Newport, in a day or two. 

The cholera is said to be raging at Montreal and Quebec, so I 
shall not hurry myself to get there ; and I shall wish rather to 
linger among the valleys and hills of the Connecticut River, 
after leaving Newport : then I am to visit the White Mountains ; 
and my present idea is to reach Washington by the opening of 
Congress in December, and afterwards travel southward to Vir- 
ginia, Louisiana, Florida, and perhaps Cuba. If I accomplish 
this tour successfully, I imagine it would be pleasant to follow the 
spring of 1855, northwards ; chiefly for the sake of botanical 
researches, and then to return to Boston in June or July, when I 
may spend my remaining three months either in this town or its 
neighbourhood. Of course, my plan may be modified or changed, 
but it ofi"ers a prospect of much interest and amusement. Sir 
Charles Grey, the late governor of Jamaica, who joiaed our ship's 
company at Halifax, and is now in this house, complains of the 
frigidity of winter, even in the southern parts of the States, and 
strongly recommends me to take shelter in Florida, where he says 
I shall find warmth and amusement for a few weeks ; but prob- 
ably, after so many years passed in tropical climes, his constitu- 
tion is more sensitive to cold than mine. 

Boston J August 4. — A delightful day yesterday. Too tired 
to write my letter, and get to breakfast, much before ten o'clock. 
I was not dressed when Mr. Mills sent up his card. He said he 

would call later ; and while I breakfasted, Mrs. F 's brother, 

Mr. C. C , came to me, both ofi"ering services; then oame Mr. 

F , Miss C , and F . I received a very kind fare- 
well note from a friend (who left Boston for New York at six 
o'clock), with some letters and notes of introduction. My first 
immediate object being Dr. Gray and the Botanical Garden at 
Cambridge, Mr. Dwight (a former acquaintance in London), and 

Mr. R. C. C accompanied me there. My expectations were 

not at all disappointed : I met with a hearty welcome, and all the 
information, and enthusiasm for plants, I desired to find. With 



THE ATHENiEUM. 19 

the intention of returning to dinner here at two o'clock, I found 
it more than half-past before I thought of leaving the Garden, 
and I then made an appointment to meet my Ward's case of 
plants at Dr. Gray's house by nine o'clock this morning. Upon 
looking over the lists, nearly all the plants I have brought are new 
to him ; Weigelia rosea and Deutzia scabra he has, so they will 

belong to Mrs. F . I learnt much botanically, and have 

promises of aid ; the trees in this Garden interested me deeply 
— so many are quite new to me. One or two of them I am sure 
would do at Abbotsbury, particularly the beautiful Virgilia lutea. 
I saw such pretty mallows, — in short, I felt as if transported to 
the Fairyland of Flowers. Newport this week is out of the 
question, for Dr. Gray has proposed botanizing over part of this 
country with me ; so we are going to have a walk to-morrow, and 
we are to go to Nahant, and perhaps I shall stay there a few days. 
I am told I shall find good sketching, and Mr. and Mrs. Long- 
fellow and Professor Agassiz are there. We returned to the 

Tremont Hotel, and afterwards Mr. D took me to call at 

Mr. Elliot's, Mr. Ticknor's and Mr. Abbott Lawrence's, and then 
showed me the Athenaeum (the finest architectural building in 
Boston), where there are public reading-rooms, a good library and 
some tolerable pictures, particularly two unfinished heads of 
Washington and his wife, by Stewart. I admire Alston's por- 
traits, but not much his landscapes ; perhaps those I have seen 
were not his best. There is a statue of Washington in the en- 
trance which looks like a French caricature, the head thrown 
back in a forced ungraceful way ; but there is one on the opposite 
side, of a well-looking man — celebrated here but unknown to me, 
so I have forgotten his name, — an evidently truthful resem- 
blance ; it sits in an easy contemplative attitude, with an expres- 
sion of countenance so very like the venerable Mrs. Fletcher, of 
Grasmere, that I could fancy him her father. Our dinner-hour 
was long past at the Tremont Hotel, but I got something from a 
long printed bill of fare, which is struck oif each day, and some 
refreshing lemonade. I remember reading somewhere, that Eng- 
lish people, who are used to good servants, must make up their 



20 BOSTON. 

minds to Ibe indifferently waited on in America, but at present 
here I should rather complain of being too much attended to. 
The waiters seem innumerable, and at least two are constantly on 
the look-out to find out the requirements of a guest. I men- 
tioned three times this morning that, having been supplied with 
tea and rolls, and broiled salmon and broiled mackerel, I required 
nothing more, but still an attendant was always at my elbow in 
two minutes after I had civilly dismissed him ; and as board, and 
I believe all payments, must be included in the five dollars a day 
for self and maid, their attentions are not individual affairs. C. 

F came at seven o'clock to conduct me to his aunt's family 

tea. I found his mother in the midst of brothers, sisters, neph- 
ews and nieces, in a room with a verandah, vine-embowered, and 
the bunches of grapes hanging thickly above it, — a cheerful, 
pleasant party of young and old, we remained together till past 

eleven o'clock, when my host, Mr. E. C , and his sisters. 

walked back with me, about half a mile, to my hotel. The air 
was pleasantly warm and balmy ; only one individual crossed our 
path, but I heard the persevering cricket grating away from many 
an Althgga frutex, which forms the principal ornament of the tiny 
gardens before most of the houses. 

Saturday^ August 4. — Here am I — I don't know where ! 
for I am writing the first thing in the morning, and such was my 
interest and pre-occupation and delight at the wholly unexpected 
beauty of this place last night, that I did not ask its name. Im- 
agine scenery more like Mount Edgecumbe than anything else I 
ever saw or heard of in Great Britain ; only with few ships on 
the sea. Pines and cypresses, and shrubs of the (to me) rarest 
description, growing down to the very margin of the picturesque 
jagged shore, with grey and red porphyry rocks starting up on all 

sides, even from the very door of Mr. L 's charming cottage, 

— Cherokee-roses and honeysuckles on the verandah ; various 
plants and shrubs, and even blackberries new to me, one with a 
delicious fruit, something between blackberry, mulberry and 
raspberry in flavor {Buhus villosus, high blackberry), rambling 
over the grey boulders, and in front a sea studded by islands. 



PLEASANT LOCATION. 21 

In the evening there was a glowing sunset on the land side, Jupi- 
ter, ainidst the eastern constellations, shining over the bright 
calm sea ; imagine also the air just freshened by a shower, and 
you may form some idea of the enjoyments I had in a moonlight 
walk with Dr. and Mrs. Gray last night. But I must try and 
give some rational account of how and why I find myself some- 
where near Beverley, in the United States, instead of at Nahaut. 
This place is called G-lencove, and the one adjoining, where Mr. 

L 's son lives, is Burnside. I find it difficult to write, and 

even to dress, the view from my bed-room window is so attrac- 
tive. The pleasure ground below, upon a rough hill, which de- 
scends rapidly to the sea, is sprinkled over by apparently upheaved 
granitic boulders, intersjpersed with Pinus rigida, Junipers, a 
large shrubby white-leafed honeysuckle, fine fruiting rubuses, 
roses, and various kinds of wild flowers new to me ; the shore, 
with occasional dark masses of volcanic strata bursting through 
the rocks ; a bay dotted by islands, some with buildings on them, 
and one having a tall lighthouse ; ships and little boats sailing 
about in all directions; a long promontory stretching to the south 
between this place and Nahant; the weather warm enough to 
have windows wide open all night, and yet not the least oppressive ; 
with all this to distract, you may wonder that I do get dressed 
soon after seven — the breakfast hour of my hospitable enter- 
tainers. 

I must go back to the time when K and I left Boston 

yesterday morning. We drove to Dr. Gray's soon after nine 
o'clock, my purpose being to open the Ward's case of plants 
with him, and then to proceed to the hotel at Nahant to stay a 
day or two. I found Mrs. Gray, who was absent yesterday, had 
kindly come home to meet me. She and her husband, whose 
acquaintance was my first wish in America, and whose scientific 
knowledge can only be exceeded by his kindness, had prepared 
a pleasant surprise for me by arranging with her father and 
Mrs. L for my reception here. They proposed my accompa- 
nying them, after he had facilitated my trip to Nahant, to visit 
Mr. and Mrs. Longfellow, and to make the acquaintance of Mr. 



22 



BOSTON. 



D 's "brotlier and sister-in-law, to whom lie had given me a 

letter of introduction. He drove back to Boston, and I made 
my first American railway journey for a few miles only, as far as 
Lynn. I found the long gallery carriages comfortable and airy, 
the communication from one part of the train to the other com- 
plete and easy, and although passing across the streets and roads 
without tunnels or barriers is rather alarming, yet, as the engines 
have a large bell, and great boards are placed all across with 
notices to look out, and not cross while the bell is heard, I sup- 
pose that individual caution may avoid a smash ; but sad acci- 
dents do sometimes happen. Two young ladies driving in an 
open carriage near this place, last year, being interested in their 
own conversation, were thrown off their guard, when a train came 
upon them. One was killed on the spot, and the other never 
recovered the shock. 

I found a gigantic ugly hotel at Nahant marring the beauty 
of its situation : it is a great boarding-house brimming over with 

company. I was received by Mrs. C. D , who engaged Dr. 

Gray and me to dine with her at the public table, at four 
o'clock, and directed us to Mr. Longfellow's residence. We 
had passed the cottage, about a mile off, in our drive from Lynn ; 
so we got into the carriage which brought us, and, in pouring 
rain, retraced our way. We were cordially received by Mr. 
Longfellow, though Mrs. Longfellow had not received a prepara- 
tory note, which had been forwarded, immediately upon our land- 
ing at Boston, to their house at Cambridge. After a short stay, 
he was so kind as to walk with me ; and in a heavy rain he held 
an umbrella over my book, while I made a sketch of the rocks 
and bay. I thought several times, with alarm, how I should 
answer to the world if I were the cause of Mr. Longfellow 
catching his death ! particularly as he would go on in wet clothes 
to dine with us at the hotel ; but he assured me a brother was 
there who would let him take measures of prevention, and I was 
too happy to make a sketch honoured by such company and con- 
versation. So it was done in spite of rain as heavy as one of 
our heaviest thunder-showers in England, and I did not lament 



AN AGREEABLE INTRODUCTION. 23 

that my tHn muslin dress was fairly soaked. But on reaching 

the hotel, Mrs. D 's Welsh nurse (a Glamorganshire woman 

from near Cowbridge, who knew about all my friends there, and 
in consequence gave me sea weeds she had preserved) afforded 
me the means of becoming tolerably dry before dinner. This is 
the largest hotel I ever saw. When quite finished it will accom- 
modate five hundred guests. It belongs to the same proprietor 
as Tremont House in Boston. I did not inquire the dimensions 
of the dinner-saloon, but I imagine that three of the size of the 
Kursaal dining-room at Homburg might be contained in it. I 
sat between Mrs. C. D and a gentleman to whom she intro- 
duced me : Mr. Longfellow joined us after dinner. I was happy 
to see his coat was changed, a fact which, in some measure, re- 
lieved my mind of the fear that I might be answerable for his 
death. If Dr. Gray had not so obligingly prepared the way for 
my escape to a residence more accordant with my tastes and pur- 
suits, I doubt whether even the vicinity of friends could have 
reconciled me to a stay of more than one night at Nahant, though 

Mr. and Mrs. B. W (he an old acquaintance in England) 

sent me a kind offer of the use of their sitting-room and car- 
riage ; but a few hours was enough just to glimpse at the hu- 
mours of the place, where I suppose a large number of the busy 
and the industrious come to enjoy relaxation and idleness. I 
ought to add that I was introduced to Chowder, a most praise- 
worthy preparation, enabling you to eat soup and fish at one 
time. 

The rain had now subsided into a thick fog. Dr. Gray and I 
got into the Carry-all I had kept waiting to take us back to the 
railway station ; and in half an hour we arrived at a picturesque 
valley surrounded by rich woods and tumbled-about sienitic rocks. 

Here Mrs. L. 's carriage (driven by a man who had lived with 

the late Lord Camden) met us, and in a few minutes we reached 
Glencove. Its rare beauty was an unexpected surprise, for Dr. 
Gray had only promised me a quiet botanizing nook. His father 
and mother-in-law, with Mrs. Gray, received me with great kind- 
ness Mr. L. is in the legal profession. A few years ago, 



24 BOSTON. 

when seeking repose and rest from over work, he accidentally 
stumbled upon this place, purchased it from the farmer to whom 
it belonged, and built his comfortable cottage, and one adjoining 
it for his eldest son, who is at present travelling in Europe with 
an invalid brother, having left a wife and three nice children at 
home. Mrs. Gray is staying with her, as well as a lady, who pro- 
mises to induce her husband, a sculptor and an artist, in Boston, 
to come here. Besides a little boy and girl in this house, Mr. 

L has a large family of grand-children, belonging to another 

married daughter, near at hand. Another of my acquaintances at 

home, Mr. F D , lives within a short walk. After my 

arrival here, the weather was so obliging as to clear up, and I 
had a delightful scramble to the Eagle rock, where I yesterday 
made a sketch, for I am now filling up my letter on the 7th. Sat- 
urday, was a day of enjoyment. We breakfasted soon after seven 
o'clock. Perfect weather ; not too hot ; so that after wandering 

about the grounds, Dr. and Mrs. G-ray, and Mrs. L , took me 

a drive to see two lakes (or ponds as they call them here). Essex 
Pond is an almost exact counterpart of the Lake at Long-leat, only 
surrounded by more extensive forests, and with others larger, in its 
neighbourhood. I sketched it, and afterwards Hamilton Lake 
from a distance, for we spent so much time in botanical researches, 
that we could not attempt to go farther. I gathered about forty 
plants quite new to me, and was particularly pleased to find the 
Pontederia cordata, which we prize so much in the fountain at Ab- 
botsbury, and the Ehexia virginica growing at the edge of the 
water, with quantities of the pretty little rare English plant Erio- 
caulon septangulare ; — it is such a pleasure and advantage to have 
the company of a botanist like Dr. Gray to give me at once the 
names of plants new to me, instead of spending perhaps hours in 
seeking them out. Among the most beautiful of these new ac- 
quaintances was Spirea tomentosa, a pink shrub, Osmunda spee- 
tabilis, and Leucocarpus conyzoides, and I was much pleased with 
a sweet Gale, larger and handsomer than ours, and quite as odo- 
riferous. But I must add a list of plants to this letter, for those 
who care about them — though certain friends of mine will only be 



BOTANICAL RESEARCHES. 25 

borod by tlieir long names. "VVe got back just in time to go and 
dine at Burnside with Mrs. W. L. . The view from her ve- 
randah and windows, looking aecross the bay towards Marblehead 

and Salem, and over Mr. L. 's garden, with a rocky cove below 

and the islands scattered about, was lovely bej^ond description, 
I have made a sketch which does not do it justice. Yesterday we 
went to church, about three miles' distance. The service was well 
conducted ; the congregation large ; no signs of poverty ; the 
people looking well-to-do, and even rich in appearance. The edi- 
fice very plain : all grey inside ; behind the reading-desk and pulpit 
a large globe, painted in fresco, with clouds around, appearing as if 
being dispersed by the sun rising behind — emblematic of course, 
and pleasingly executed : the roof went up into a large kind of 
open tower, finished at the top by a simple large white flower ; 
blinds upon each window outside ; a good organ ; the singing well 
conducted ; the hymns pretty. The minister preached, not extem- 
porarily, from the text, ' We must all appear before the judgment- 
seat of Christ.' 

After dinner, Dr. Gray and Mrs. L took me to walk in a 

wild wood, chiefly of hemlock spruce and Weymouth pines ; both 
are more beautiful here than they are in England ; and the bold 
massy sienitic rocks, many of them covered by various-coloured 
lichens, among which were Tripe de Roche and Umbellicaria vellea, 
with its graceful black wreaths ; the ground was tinted by Reindeer 
moss, with its soft bluish grey ; which with the bright scarlet ber- 
ries of Comus Canadensis, dark-leaved Pyrolas, Gaultherias, Linnse 
borealis, twining in amongst them with white pipes of Monotropa 
uniflora peeping up from under rare ferns, and elegant Yaccineas, 
formed a foreground which, for softness and variety of colouring, 
exceeded aught I ever saw even in Scotland. In the forest we met 

a son-in-law of Mr. L 's, Mr. J , botanizing with three boys, 

the youngest not more than seven, yet all appeared to take an 
eager and intelligent interest in the pursuit, and each was loaded 
with a splendid bouquet, from which they showed me a pretty 
new Asclepias (incarnata). Having now three strong arms to 

carry us through difficulties, Mrs. L and I got down a steep 

2 



26 BOSTON. 

descent in the wood, and in a little opening below, we gathered 
Onoclea sensibilis, Osmunda sj^ectabilis, and Veronica scutellata. 

I must finish this abruptly, as Mr. L tells us our letters must 

go now, to be ready for to-morrow's post to England. Mrs. 

B 's communication of August 3d, that she would send to 

meet me on Saturday last, has only just arrived. I now propose 
to go to her at Newport on Thursday. Lord Elgin also writes 
that the accounts of the prevalence of cholera are exaggerated, 
and proposes to receive me at Spencer "Wood, near Quebec. I 
think of going from Newport, through the Valley of the Con- 
necticut, to the White Mountains, and thence by Lake Champlain 
to Montreal ; but I shall probably send off another letter from 
Newport. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M 

The sketching here is very interesting. 

August 9. 



LETTEK III. 



NEIGHBOTJEHOOD OF WEN HAM LAKE 



Glexcote, August 10. 

My Dear Friends, — 

I am rather tormented by what are here called mosquitoes, 
but they are not a bit worse than our gnats and midges and harvest- 
bugs ; indeed, I doubt whether I could have frequented woods 
and bogs in England for as long together as the time I have 
passed these last few days in the forest, and by the sea and lakes 
here, without being more devoured ; and as to really venomous 
reptiles, I have not stumbled upon one : indeed, I have seen 
nothing disagreeable belonging to the animal world, and only one 
little dead snake, not much larger than our slow-worm, and, I am 
told, harmless. I hear of humming-birds occasionally on the 
honeysuckles, but it has not been my good fortune to see one ; 
indeed, I have observed very few birds. There were two or three 
yellow linnets, like canary birds, in the Botanic Garden, and I 
heard one little warbler in the morning from my window, but he 
sings very sparingly. The railroad is audible at times. I can 
hardly believe we are so near to the business side of life, from 
the quiet tranquillity immediately around; though we can see 
towns on the distant shore, and vessels of all kinds on the sea. 

Soon after breakfast this morning, Mr. L took up 3Irs 

W. L and me, driven by Mr. E , to see Wenham Lake 

(or pond). It is a fine sheet of water, clear, and pure looking, 
about four miles round the banks ; easy of access, and at each 



28 WEN>IAM LAKE. 

end are a number of wooden ice-houses; a railroad has been 
brought close up, for the purpose of easy transportation. Upon 
the pebbles at the edge of the water, we found two little opaque- 
looking, oblong eggs, supposed to belong to a small turtle. I 
sketched the lake, but found few flowers, though, on our way 
home, we gathered Solidago Canadensis. After dinner Mr. and 

Mrs. L took me to call upon their daughter, Mrs. J , 

and upon Mr. and Mrs. D , who have houses about a mile on 

the shore towards Beverley, but I think not quite so prettily 
situated as this cottage. In the evening, I wrote letters. We 

breakfasted at seven o'clock, as Mr. L went early into Boston. 

Sketched out of doors, after paying a visit to Mrs. W. L , 

who accompanied me with her cousins, Mrs. G- and Mrs. 

L ; and Dr. Gray returned to dinner : afterwards, Mrs. 

L drove with me to Mr. M 's, to see Mrs. F and 

Miss C . Quite a surprise to me to find them so near. It 

is such a clear night, with a bright moon lighting up the islands. 
Three lighthouses are visible from these windows — Baker's Island, 
Boston, and Marblehead ; the last only a revolving light. 

I forgot to mention that Mr. S. C gave me a very curious 

animal production, a kind of elegant little vase, about two or 
three inches across, the colour and substance of fine grey cloth, 
edged in scalloped plaits, which were very gracefully formed out 
of sand and an adhesive substance. It is supposed to be the 
work of some kind of cockle by the sea-shore, for the purpose of 
catching and confining its usual food. Mucli care will be neces- 
sary to carry this fragile curiosity safely to England ; and I am 
doubtful how to preserve my two little turtle's eggs ; they are 
too solid to be blown, and I propose to varnish them, which, per- 
haps, will prevent their destruction. Mr. Forbes (the gentleman 
who so nobly distinguished himself during our Irish famine, by 
undertaking to freight a ship with provisions and carry her across 
the Atlantic) dined here. He considers himself to have some 
descent from or connexion with our Murrays in Scotland, and we 
are quite ready to acknowledge the relationship. 

Thursday^ August 10. — Mr. L provided two Carry-alls 



EAGLE HEAD. 29 

to convey a pic-nic party to see Eagle Head, a fine porphyry bluff 

about seven miles distant. Mrs. W. L took out her fine 

good-humoured baby-girl, not seven months old, and she seemed 
to enjoy the expedition as much as any of us. In our way we 
passed through a bright, white, and clean-looking upholstery 
manufacturing town, called Manchester, the strongest contrast to 
our black, dirty-looking Manchester possible. The factory young 
men looked like smart London tradespeople, and the women were 
equally well dressed. I have only seen one ragged-looking body 
in these parts, and that was in Boston. He was supposed to be 
a recently imported Irishman. This part of the country looks 
rather sterile and unproductive, in an agricultural point of view ; 
■ more thickly sown with picturesque rocks than corn, and there- 
fore at first it seems a miracle how the population can make 
themselves so comfortable, and their general appearance to be 
that of people well to do in the world ; but they have plenty of 
employment in various handicrafts. Between this place and 
Beverley, and towards Wenham, there are numberless tidy-look- 
ing small shoe-workshops — many shoes are made all through the 
neighbourhood ; these workshops are distinct from the residences 
of the shoemakers, who reside in houses all made of wood, but 
of a comfortable size. One sees no very small cottages. I have 
met two or three people who say they have come over from Eng- 
land to make a little money, and mean to return there. 

The views all around Eagle Head are fine ; numerous inden- 
tations and islands on this coast make it so picturesque. We 
lunched on water-melon and cakes; and, after spending two or 
three hours very pleasantly, returned home. Our party consisted 

of Mr. and Mrs. W. L , Dr. and Mrs, Gray, Mrs. G- , 

Mrs. L 's brother, Mr, E ----- , two young girls, and the baby. 

Mr. L was taken away by the unexpected arrival of a party 

of workmen for the construction of a ram, which he was obliged 

to superintend. After dinner Mr. AV. L proposed a row on 

the sea by moonlight ; all the ladies except myself were afraid of 
the undertaking. The tide being low, we were obliged to be 
drawp. into the water by a horse upon a low truck, and tlie difEr 



30 BOSTON. 

cultj of sticking to it when the horse made his first eiFort to drag 
the machine out of deep sand was considerable. We returned 
safely, however, without paying any other penalty for the ex- 
periment than getting rather wet. 

Friday, 10th. — After breakfast, Mr. L walked with me 

to Sunny Bank. I sketched, before leaving, this pretty place. 

]y[r, L • showed me the difference between common maize and 

sweet corn. The latter appears to be only more delicate than 
the former. It is very good, when the corn is young, served up 
simply boiled, to be eaten with butter and salt. By the four 

o'clock train I left Glencove with Mrs. G , Mr. and Mrs, 

L seeing us off. It was more like parting from old friends 

than from the acquaintances of a week ; I had found myself so 
pleasantly at home among them. We reached Boston about six 

o'clock, when I was introduced to Mr. G , who met us at the 

station ; and Mrs. G took me home with her to Ashburton 

Pi"^ce; I found a nice house, belonging to her mother, with 

every comfort ; and in the evening Mr. and Mrs. G took me 

to call on Mr. and Mrs. ^ibbott Lawrence, where we passed a 
pleasant hour, talking over English matters. Next morning 
early, I went with B to Tremont House, to unpack my bag- 
gage and arrange it for future use. From ignorance of hotel 
customs iu this country, I had left my trunks with the hotel au- 
thorities ; and they charged me during my absence as if my boxes 
had eaten and drank, so that my bill was more than forty dollars, 
though I remained so short a time in the house, and only had 
two small bedrooms there ; but payments are made for rooms, not 
for board or attendance ; and whether an individual person or an 

individual box, eats or not, the same money is paid. Mr. G 

took mo to his studio, to see an interesting design for sculpture. 
The subject was a shepherd boy : he is suj)posed to have carried 
off a young eaglet, and to be attacked by the mother bird. She 
has alighted upon the shoulder of the lad, who, borne down in a 
stooping posture, seizing one wing of his assailant, grasps in his 
right hand a knife, with which he is prepared to defend himself. 
Tius idea is expressed with great force. I did not admire 



8TATUE OF WASHIXGTON. 31 

Chantry's statue of Washington at the State House ; it is want- 
ing in character. The one at the Athenaeum is better ; hut 
neither of them satisfy the imagination as much as Stewart's un- 
finished heads of Washington and his wife in the Picture Gallery. 
Among the sculpture there are several busts by native artists 
which would, I think, be considered fine in Europe. There was a 
bas-relief by an elder brother of Mr. Greenough, now dead, a 
sketch of which I fancy to have seen somewhere in England. 
At the house of his sister I saw another work by the same artist ; 
two children — the one as an angel leading the awakened soul of 
the other, with an inscription below ; very pretty. 

Mr. B had advised me to start by the four o'clock train 

for Providence to take the Newport steamer ; I was agreeably 

surprised by the pleasure of Mr. G 's escort and company 

the whole way : he was so obliging as to make the discovery that 
he too had some friends to visit, and this added much to the ease 
and the interest of my journey, which was longer than I expected 
— three or four hours by rail, and at least twenty-five miles up an 
arm of the sea to Rhode Island. It was dark before we reached 

Newport, but I found Mrs. B 's eldest son and Mr. B 

awaiting our arrival : they conveyed me in a carriage about two 
miles to their villa, which, as it has no name, I shall call Ocean 
Clifi". The sea view has only some small islands to break the ex- 
panse of water ; so, if it were possible, one might see as far as 
the South Pole. The high ground between this place and New- 
port is studded by villas ; fine rocks, which look like limestone, 
edge the points and bays of the shore, and just below, black coal- 
looking bluffs crop out into the waves : last evening I walked to 
look at them, but I understand there h no fear that the smoking 
chimneys of steam-engines, or the black produce of the earth, 
will ever mar the beauties of this shore. The next morning after 

my arrival, young Mr. B drove me out in what is here called 

a wagon, a four-wheeled kind of dog-cart, with very high light 
wheels (wheels very general round this country, but such as I 
have only seen attached to velocipedes in England), drawn by a 
spirited little horse, having the same good quality which I also 



32 



NEWPOTIT. 



observed in the larger one belonging to Mr. L- , that of stand- 
ing patiently when left to himself; in this respect horses are bet- 
ter trained here than with us. When we were wandering about 
for an hour or two, the carriage could be safely left, with the 
reins only slightly attached to some gate or paling, and the horse, 
though powerful and spirited, never seemed to have an idea of 
walking off. I asked the English groom how this was taught, but 
received no other explanation than that they were trained to it , 
and a great convenience it is. One sees butchers' carts in Lon- 
don standing unguarded at houses, but I never found that car- 
riages could be safely left, particularly with the temptations of 
green fields and trees in every direction. We drove by Newport 
to the bathing sands, where gentlemen take charge of ladies in 
the surf : it was to me a very singular and amusing scene — numer- 
ous carriages, drawn up before a semicircle of small bathing- 
houses, containing gaily dressed occupants, who had taken their 
marine walk, or were waiting for the ladies, young and old, still 
frolicking about among the waves, children dancing in and out, 
gentlemen handling about their pretty partners as if they were 
dancing water quadrilles, and heads, young and old, with stream- 
ing hair dipping in and out : it was very droll, very lively, and I 
daresay very amusing to all engaged. No accident has ever oc- 
curred here, for the bay is protected by capes on each side, and 
the water is shallow for some distance out. A white flag is raised 
during the hours appropriated to ladies, and it is succeeded by a 
red one, later in the day, when gentlemen take possession of the 
shore on their own account. The scene resembled that on a race- 
course in England. I made a slight sketch from the hill above : 
it was unique in its way, for I believe there are few places, even 
in America, where the sea would be safe for such an experiment: 
and even here the aid of strong arms is at times very necessary 
to save ladies from being knocked over by the waves. There was 
considerable surf to-day, but, from the numbers who breasted it, 
I suppose the courage necessary for the undertaking is not so 
great as it appears to me. I should look on a long while before 
I could try this kind of experiment. 



A NEW VEGETABLE. 8S 

Sunday^ August 13. — I went to the Episcopal Church, which 
was built during the English occupation here ; Berkeley, Bishop 
of Cloyne, presented a good organ. The service was well read : 
our Liturgy, with only an occasional change, which I thought an 
improvement. The sermon, preached by a Mr. Cook, good in 
matter and in manner, and ending at the right moment — ^not spun 
out so as to weaken its effect : as it was neither commonplace nor 
dry, I did not think whether it lasted for twenty minutes or for 
fifty minutes, and I really do not know what its duration may 
have been. The subject was Christ's command to ' follow him,' 
and the moral deduced was, that the experiment of obedience, if 
fairly tried, will never fail to convince the sceptic, and to 
strengthen the believer. Dinner was at three o'clock ; afterwards, 

Mr. G joined us in a walk to the shore. Tea was ready 

when we returned ; a beautiful moonlight, starlight night. Mr. 
Lawrence, an English artist, walked in; his crayon portraits 
are much liked here, and with good reason ; they are true, pleasing, 
and spirited. I much admired a sketch of Kogers, done just 
before Mr. Lawrence came from England last spring. 

I see nothing like timber upon this island. Mrs. B 

showed me a little bit of primeval forest yesterday ; it appeared 
to consist of hickory and sassafras, low, thick, and scrubby ; but 
the English are accused of having destroyed nearly all the natu- 
ral wood during the revolutionary period. The Gulf Stream 
touches this shore, which makes a mild and genial climate, though 
I am told that sharp winters here destroy myrtles and pomegran- 
ates, which flourish upon our south-western coast, while a warmer 
summer sun ripens fruits that fail with us. I must, however, try 
to introduce an excellent vegetable into England, which is called 
here by the name of Okra. I have not yet seen the flower expanded, 
but the plant looks like some kind of Hibiscus, with a long green 
fruit, which makes a delicious ingredient in soups ; it is softer and 
more gelatinous than asparagus, and when young and tender 
is cut in slices : it is an annual, and perhaps will not ripen seed 
with us, but is surely better worth raising in hot-houses than 
French beans. I will get some good seed by and by ; thi? and 
2* 



34 NEWPORT. 

the Rubus villosus would both be good introductions ; there is a 
high variety of the latter, which might, I think, be cultivated in 
our warmer gardens, like raspberries ; the fruit is in size and col- 
our between the blackberry and mulberry, and I think much bet- 
ter than the first, and much more certain than the last, though 
the flavour may not be quite so high as that of a really good mul- 
berry. I am surprised that it has never yet been cultivated in 
England. At six o'clock this morning, a thick fog, which ended 
in rain and a fine day. 

There are people this side the Atlantic who, as new acquaint- 
ances, are very pleasant. This morning I have been introduced 

to Mrs. and Miss B ; they sympathize about flowers and 

stones, which is rare in this country ; and they are not the least 
stiff or cold. When people are cultivated and warm-hearted, I 
soon forget and forgive their habits of making all our vowels double, 
and even the nasal tone of some among them. There is a genu 
ine characteristic frankness here which is very pleasant. There 
is no reason why we should treat our fellow-beings that happen to 
be new acquaintances, with less kindness than dogs or horses. I 
am afraid this is a fault in our national character. I believe we 
are honest and sincere, and that is better than mere surface polite- 
ness ; but we lose so much time in our cautious civilities, that in 
some cases life is half expended before we dare exchange mere 
acquaintanceship for a warmer feeling. The Americans, who are 
a go-ahead people in all their concerns, appear to me to carry 
their hearts in their hands ; this is very ploasant to a stranger 
coming suddenly among them ; and it is difficult for me to ' realize ' 
that it is only fourteen days to-morrow since I landed on these 
shores, so many homes and hearts upon it have already been 
opened to me. Perhaps I shall find a difference in other places, 
and I may have been particularly fortunate in my first acquaint- 
ances. There is certainly great beauty and refinement of feature 
among the mass of the people, but it is accompanied by a fragili- 
ty of look which raises painful feelings. As far as I can judge at 
present, this is owing partly to hereditary causes, partly to actual 
habits. The excitement and anxieties of business life in a ne-w 



AMERICAN KINDNESS. 35 

country probably entail constitutional delicacy upon the children 
of parents so eagerly occupied, and the sedentary city education 
and pursuits of the young of the last and present generation, un- 
favourable to out-of-door interests and amusements, do not harden, 
and strengthen the nerves and muscles. I am already tempted to 
controvert the assertion of American ladies, that their generally 
delicate health is to be attributed to climate. They may have 
severer winters and warmer summers than ours, but these are ac- 
companied by the advantages of less damp, and of brighter sun- 
shine. I have not had an hour too warm for exercise during 
any part of the day, for though the sun is blighter, it does not al- 
ways beam so furiously as with us. The climate of Massachusetts 
seems to me a charming one, and I believe another generation will 
discover its merits, because I entertain hopes that the children 
now growing up will acquire more hardy habits. The evil I .am 
speaking of cannot be remedied in a day ; and I find American 
ladies are at this moment so little informed with regard to natu- 
ral productions, and so unfitted for country pursuits, that their 
ignorance of these matters is at once the evidence and the cause 
of their lack of physical strength. 

Newport^ August 15. — I was introduced to about thirty new 
faces yesterday. Among them the Governor of New York. A pleas- 
ant acquaintance ; he gave me much geological information, and 
promises to forward my seeing Albany, &c., to advantage. I took a 
walk on the shore just below this garden, and was much interested, 
as well as a good deal puzzled. My little geological knowledge 
is quite at fault ; sand and quartz rocks, coal and limestone, and 
they say granite beyond ; this seems to me a jumble. I suppose 
»t will be reduced to order by and bye. After dinner Mrs. 

B took me a distant drive, up the island, to call on Dr. and 

Mrs. Howe : the doctor's name and benevolent deeds have long 
been familiar to me. We found also, visiting them, a nephew of 
the late Dr, Tinkerman,* and Mr. and Mrs. Carlton,t descendants 
of Lord Baltimore. Dr. Howe has bought a cottage in a picta- 

* Tuckerman ?— ^w. Ed. f Calvert?— ^m. M. 



36 NEWPORT. 

resqiie valley, about a mile from the sea-shore, and is busy making 
walks and opening out views ; his children will benefit in health 
and tastes. The sun set before we eould tear ourselves away, and 
so we got heme in the dark, and broke an engagement to drink 

tea out ; but Mrs. and Miss B came here instead, and we 

had a pleasant evening. Miss B will come soon after eight 

to-morrow morning, to take me to the rocks ; she is the only 
active young lady I have met with ! 

August 16. — After an early breakfast, Miss B took 

me to Newport, to get an American trunk to pack parcels; and 

in coming back we went to see the pretty view from Mrs. B 's 

house, and after carrying home our purchase, we drove to Mrs. 

C 's villa, which is built close to a shore of fine granite rocks. 

Several lady visitors were with Mrs. B before I came away. 

Sopn after one o'clock I called for Mr. Gr , who accompanied 

me on board the steamer, where I had the pleasure of meeting 
Dr. and Mrs. Howe. The Doctor went on with us to Boston. 
Dr. Gray came to Ashburton Place, and promises to go with me 
to-morrow, as far as Lake Winnipiseogee, (' Spirit of the Waters,') 
which I am to see on my way to the White Mountains ; from 
thence my proposed route to Canada is by Burlington and Lake 
George. Although so much is said about cholera. Lord Elgin 
mentions that there is great exaggeration. Rain is prophesied 
to-night, and it would be better to have wet before my next jour- 
ney, to lay the dust. There has only been one showery day since 
my arrival in America, a fortnight to-day ; it seems more like 
two months than two weeks — so many new ideas have been 
crowded into the time. The Canada sails to-morrow. I have 
had no news from England later than the morning I left Liver- 
pool ; and probably my letters have gone to the care of Lord 
Elgin. No time for more to-night. 

Yours afiectionately, 

A. M. M. 







LETTER IV. 

SLAVERY QUESTION. 

Boston, ) 

Wednesdai/, Atigust 16. j 

My dear Friends, — 

Mj last letter will go by the Canada this morning, if pos- 
sible (as the train by which we travel towards the White Moun- 
tains does not start till afternoon). I shall try to see Captain 

Stone before he sails. Mrs. G is gone to Sunny Brook, so I miss 

her here ; her sister received me, Mrs. L being confined to 

her room by illness. I am told that after leaving these Northern 
States, I shall find the country, and the people, and the habits, 
much less English ; here the shade of difference is very slight — 
certainly not greater than a difference of institutions necessitates. 
A supply of excellent water is so abundant in Boston (derived, I 
am told, from Lake Cochituate, forty miles distant,) that by six 
o'clock in the morning, I see the servants belonging to houses 
watering the pavement before the doors with a long hose, as we 
should water our gardens ; and the house-maids, with those clean, 
convenient, light looking Shaker brooms, sweeping away the dust. 
I do not know any one of our towns (not even Bath) which exceeds 
this in purity and neatness : and^ as there is a great deal of chol- 
era abroad, in coming through the streets the other day, I found 
them perfumed with hot vinegar. I was told a carriage full of 
that fumigated liquid had been driven smoking through the 
streets. There are deaths every day here, and some at Newport ; 
but it is not believed to be contagious at present, only carrying 



38 BOSTON. 

off the profligate and the debilitated. I hear, though, that tho 
deaths at New York last week, among a population of five hundred 
thousand only, equalled our usual bills of mortality in London. I 
should particularly dread any epidemic falling upon a people 
which, as a general rule, looked so over-worked, and fragile, and 
thin as these Northern Americans. Dr. Howe says it is climate ; 

as yet I am incredulous upon this point. My friend, Mr. L , 

confessed he was almost in his grave when, eight years ago, he 
bought his pretty place. Now, with the revivifying influence of 
his farm and garden (although he does not entirely give up his 
legal duties), he looks as strong and healthy as any sexagenarian 
upon our side of the Atlantic. I should like to transplant all the 
sick dyspeptic men and women of New York and Boston into 
gardens and fields, before I will admit that this pleasant climate 
is to blame. I am rather inclined to assert that mental excite- 
ment, and money-making, and sedentary employments are the real 
criminals, and that something is due to the laws of inheritance 
even in this unentailing country. Till my introduction to the 
Governor of New York, I did not know that each State has a Grov- 
ernor. Governor Seymour lives at Albany. Some of these Gov- 
ernors are only elected for two years, and this gentleman does 
credit to popular choice. 

What is likely to be the effect of the Nebraska Bill upon the 
Slavery question ? Some intelligent men appear to think it is as 
much a political catch as some of those divisions in our House of 
Commons which are rendered nugatory by after divisions ; and 
that it has roused the feelings of the enlightened and liberals, 
who consider the question as one merely of time, a disease requir- 
ing only the treatment of wise and not too hasty physicians, — 
perhaps this apparently retrograde step will ultimately hasten the 
desired change. One kind person, who is a planter, told me he 
has no other wish than to see his black children able to use the 
gift of themselves, which few deny to be their right, if they can 
use it ; but, like our Colonies, they must become men in expe- 
rience and intelligence before they can take care of themselves, 
and I am already inclined to hope that the ' Legrees ' are as much 



THE VEXED QUESTION. 39 

exceptional beings, as idle and profligate landholders among our- 
selves. In saying this, I know you will not think me upholding 
Slavery ; Christianity will and must subdue it — not by teaching 
us to vilify and persecute those less fortunate of our brethren who 
have had the curse of human possessions entailed upon them — but 
by enlightening the darkened, and instructing the ignorant ; and 
even (if that should be necessary) making such property valueless 
in a commercial point of view. No individual selfishness, and no 
political intrigues, can prevent the wished-for consummation ; and 
I firmly believe there are few, very few, even in the South, who 
will not hail with joy the moment of emancipation — a movement 
at present delayed by doubts and fears. This is my first view of 
a vexed question ; I may alter it — I may change it altogether ; 
but in the meanwhile, such as it is, I give it. 

Yours afi'ectionately, 

A. M. M. 



Y j'H. r'K y\ ."K ^'1. ^H. r-x j'\. j's. j^h. ^'\. ^'^. ^^\ j'^i. /■ ~i. v'M. .■'^. j'H. ."'H. y\. y\ y\. rsr^ 
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LETTEE Y. 

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS TOUR. 

Alton Bay, New IIampshire, ) 
August 17. ) 

My Dear Friends, — 

Owing to a mistake about the railroad hour, I am here, 
instead of at the most frequented end of Lake Winnipiseogee, in 
what is considered a wild village ; but this simple little hotel called 
Winnipiseogee House is clean, and much more comfortable than 
any out-of-the-way Scotch inns I ever was at ; and it is well to see 
here a specimen of the wonderful industry of this people — railroads 
down to the very water. I forgot to mention that before we left 
Boston, Dr. Gray took me to see Faneuil Hall (Huguenot name), 
built, as a public gift to the town of Boston in old times, by a 
merchant. It is the place where the first public meeting was 
held during the Revolution ; and there is a large picture of 
Webster speaking in Congress upon the Nullification question. 
It is well painted for its purpose, and the portraits are considered 
like. I afterwards made a sketch of the oldest house in Boston, 
now a shop, the date 1683. Bather before two o'clock we left in 
the railway cars for Winnipiseogee. The line goes throu.o'h a 
country much resembling English park scenery; glades and 
woods and single trees, sugar maples, red maples, hemlock spruce, 
Weymouth pines, black, white, and red oak, with creeping juniper, 
and occasionally wild vines, which associate ideas of high culti- 
vation with the landscape in an English mind, from such things 
not being indigenous in our country. We passed through towns 



RAILWAY ARRANGEMENTS. 41 

and villages called Charlestown, Somerville, Edgware, Maiden, 
Melrose, Reading, Andover, Haverhill, Newton, Kingston, Exeter, 
Newmarket, Durham, Dover, Berwick, Portland, Rochester, New 
Durham, and Alton, and these following, as I have written them, 
to the utter confusion of English geography. Among them were 
some Indian names, much more beautiful and appropriate to this 
country. Swampscot, Cochego, Scournamagowie (how like 
Scournalapich, in Ross-shire), Agawam, &c., &c. At Dover, 
after passing the Miramachi river, we changed cars, and entered 
a branch railroad for Alton Bay. This was very slow, as it 
stopped at several stations for mercantile purposes ; and though 
we left at five, we did not arrive till after eight o'clock, having 
been more than three hours going about twenty-five miles ; but 
the route was pretty : sometimes cut through a drift of sand, con- 
taining boulders of granite, with large plates of mica, it occasion- 
ally reminded me of the forest of Fontainebleau, but without 
fine timber, this forest being all young; no trees looked older 
than thirty or forty years. We had a hospitable welcome ; clean 
rooms and beds, charges moderate. Here, for the first time, I see 
hand-lamps in which a mixture of camphene and alchohol is used ; 
it burns clearly, and gives a pleasant light. This camphene is 
chiefly manufactured from tur^ entine collected in the pine woods 
of North Carolina. 

August 18. — Before breakfast, I sketched the lake, &c., from 
my window. A large quantity of wood lay about in all direc- 
tions, for the purpose of supplying the car engines and lake 
steamers with fuel, wood only being used : the railroad carriages 
are never called by any other name than cars ; they are more 
like movable galleries; in some respects I prefer them to car- 
riages ; they are more airy, and the seats, holding two all down 
each side of the centre, are roomy and comfortable. A cord 
runs along the middle of the roof, by which the driver may be 
communicated with ; it is out of the reach of children : there is 
a conductor, who walks backwards and forwards between the 
loT:g cars, which I imagine convey from sixty to eighty passengers 
in each ; these are occasionally refreshed by an Aquarius, walking 



42 THE rAPEH. BIRCH. 

with his little fouutain of iced water, distributing it liberally at 
the cost of the Company. Even this small and not very much 
frequented place has not only a railroad which takes one down 
nearly to the landing-place, but also a branch off it, to convey 
wood. Certainly, Americans are very purpose-like and indus- 
trious, and I have as yet met with nothing but what has been 
polite, with the exception of the unintentional rudeness of two 
or three country people here, who established themselves at the 
window listening to our conversation, and asking for my sketch- 
books ; but it was in the simplicity of their hearts ; they meant 
no ill, and were only doing as they would be done by. Here I 
was sorry to part with Dr. Gray, who kindly came so far to put 
me in the way of American travel ; but he first drove me in a 
• wagon ' about two miles' distance, to see an extensive view of the 
lake, which must be from seventy to eighty miles round, with 
deep indentations, and numerous islands thickly clothed by wood ; 
which, not being of a size to pay for transport, is left undis- 
turbed. I did not observe any of them to be inhabited. 

I am rather pleased that our mistake about the train from 
Boston caused us to come here instead of to a place called the 
Weir; as from hence I shall go the whole length of the lake, in- 
stead of only about twelve miles to Centre Harbour, the point 
from which I am to visit the White Mountains. In going up the 
hill I saw a fine paper birch. Those trees are numerous here, 
and Dr. Gray took off some sheets for me to draw upon : it is 
prettily shaded, and easily takes either pencil or colour ; being 
both tough and soft, it comes off in layers. I can easily imagine 
how the Indians make canoes and all sorts of things of it; the 
tree is handsome, with larger leaves than ours has, and a still 
whiter stem. I found, too, the high blackberry, a handsome 
shrub ; and a witch hazel, different from ours. Upon a beautiful 
spot overlooking the lake, we came to a house, deserted by it3 
inhabitants about a year ago. The doors and windows were 
still perfectly good, and of a size far beyond a cottager's abode 
in England. In a week I could have made it comfortable 
enough to live in. A boy told us the owners had built one larger, 



CENTRE HARBOUR. 43 

and in a more sheltered situation. The first steamer had depart- 
ed just as we returned, and it was four o'clock when Dr. Gray 

entered the train, to return to Boston. R and I Avent on 

hoard a very comfortahle, clean boat called the Dover. There 
were not many people on board. One ximerican gentleman, who 
had been in England, Scotland, Ireland, and apparently all over 
the world, came and talked to me, and then presented his card 
before landing at Wolfsborough. At first the lake reminded me 
of some of ours, but it soon widened out so as to be on a grand- 
er scale; and, with its numerous islands and mountain back- 
ground, I thought it exceedingly beautiful. It was twilight 
before we landed at Centre Harbour, the sun having made a glo- 
rious setting. We found a very comfortable hotel here. 

August 19. — Early this morning, I went with Mr. and Mrs. 

T and a party, in a kind of char-a-hanc, which held nine, to 

Red Hill, so called from the brilliant color of the foliage late in 
the year. I refused to drive up the ascent, and therefore paused 
at a small farm to draw. The family consisted of a grandmother 
and several sons, with a married daughter and children. The 
old woman was very obliging ; she let me taste a cheese she was 
making, and gave me a seat at the door, where there was a beau- 
tiful view. The daughter soon came down stairs; she looked 
delicate, as almost all American women do ; and I was amused 
at the simplicity with which she informed me she should like to 
take a pattern of my gown, as it was exactly what she wanted ; 
so I gave her leave to get her paper and scissors for the purpose, 
and she accepted my permission quite as a matter of course. 
This evening I saw seven or eight cows driven by the owner, who 
occupied a gig. He was a respectable looking man, with a good 
horse, which he drove, ad libitum, first on one side the road, and 
then over the turf or into the ditch on the other side ! 

After considering difi'erent routes, I am inclined to go by Con 
way to-morrow to the Notch, instead of Plymouth. I got a yel- 
low G-eradia to-day, on the Red Hill ; it is a beautiful plant ; per- 
haps it is Geradia quercifolia. 

August 20, — Centre Harbour. — Last night I made acquaint- 



44 MOUNT WILLARD. 

ance with a brother and sister of a gentleman who came over in 
the Canada ; we determined to go on together by the Conway 
House route to the White Mountains in a kind of char-a-hanc 
we are to hire for the purpose, instead of proceeding by coach to 
the Weir (another place on this lake), and there taking the road 
for Plymouth. We arrived at the Conway House before three 
o'clock, having been long in making the journey of thirty miles, 
owing to a very hilly road, nearly all the way through deep sand. 
The drive was hot and dusty, but very beautiful, through woods 
and by lakes ; one called Long Pond, another Six-Mile Pond, &c 
I could have supposed myself in Scotland, in the neighbourhood of 
Loch Awe, or the Garry Lochs, had it not been for the paper 
birch, sugar maples, &c., &c., and the undergrowth of shrub oak 
— a very pretty shrub, which I have not before seen. There 
were no horses to take us on, after our dinner at Horace Fabian's 
house, therefore, we must make up our minds to go very early to- 
morrow (Sunday), so as to get to Crauford House, at the Notch, 
White Mountains, by one o'clock. 

We left Conway this morning, August 20th, at six o'clock, in 
a very comfortable open carriage, with three horses ; such a beau- 
tiful drive ! The country resembles Braemar, near Invercauld, 
but is still finer, as the mountains are higher and the foliage is 
more varied. We passed the Willow-house, out of which an un- 
fortunate family of nine persons fled, a few years ago, to avoid a 
slip in the mountains. The house was untouched, and these 
poor people were buried alive by the^ falling stones a short dis- 
tance from it. We arrived at the hotel in good time ; I found 
some accjuaintances there, and was induced to accompany them in 
a char-a-banc^ drawn by six horses, to the summit of Mount 
Wiilard. Having once embarked in the undertaking, I was 
ashamed to insist upon being let off; but the ascent was really 
a tremendous one for any vehicle whatever ; and how we ever got 
safely up and down again, is a marvel to me. This house is full 
of people, but all is comfortably arranged. I like one American 
plan, of paying for inn accommodation ; no bill of items is ever 
given. The payment is at the rate of three or four dollars a-day, 



A HASTY JUDGMENT. 45 

and there is an end of it. This saves much trouble and time 
l)iuing is not cheap at those hptels; but those who keep them for 
the convenience of travellers must have a certain sum ; and what 
does it signify whether this is charged for wax candles or for 
bread and butter ? 

August 21. — A party went off this morning by eight o'clock 
to ascend Mount Washington on horseback, and perhaps to spend 
the night there ; but I resisted all temptation to join it, having 
quite enough to amuse and occupy me below. Another beautiful 
day — beautiful for us, but not for the poor farmers, who feel the 
present drought. Most of the streams and waterfalls are dry ; 
but we are ready to compound for some loss of picturescjue 
effect for the sake of the charming weather. Yesterday I ate 
sweet potatoes at dinner ; they taste very like chestnuts. Such 
things are not grown here, but come from the South. I find ex- 
treme civility and attention from all the waiters and attendants 
in the White Mountain hotels. On the whole, my impression 
of the American people has been hitherto far more agreeable 
than I expected. One gentleman, at Centre House, held forth 
upon the backwardness of England, and about her institutions 
having been stationary for the last two hundred years. I asked 
him whether he had ever visited the country, and upon his allow- 
ing he had not, I advised him to defer making up his opinion 
until he had had a fair opportunity of judging. I do not think 
his notions were sympathized with by those who were around us. 
The everlasting rocking-chairs among the ladies make me quite 
dizzy, and give me a sea-sick feeling : and the custom raises an idea 
of want of rational occupation, without even the doubtful satis- 
faction of a ' dolce far niente.^ The broad English farmer-like 
pronunciation is also unpleasant to English ears; but good- 
humour and the laws of kindness have prevailed wherever T 
have yet been, united to a higher general intelligence than among 
the majority of our pojoulation. The difference between us 
appears to be that our higher classes have more principle, ele- 
gance, and refinement ; the women more energy and activity, and 
the men more athletic amusements ; while our middle and lower 



46 THE VLIOFLLE HOUSE. 

classes are less liigUy educated, perhaps rather more narrow 
minded, and physically, work harder ; although, in some respects, 
I think the Americans wear themselves out sooner, particularly 
those occupied in manufactures or mercantile affairs. The race 
and the appearance of horses is an example which runs through 
everything here. There are none so perfect as our most perfect ; 
but the animals generally go better, and are better fed than second 
or third-rate horses in En^and. I had a pleasant walk with Mr. 

T , who was very kind in helping me over difficulties, and 

patient in waiting while I drew, or hunted for plants. I found 
Trilliums in seed, and the roots of some kind of Epiphyte, and a 
beautiful little creeping evergreen (Chiogenes) on the rotten 
trunks of trees ; many other forms were new to my eyes. The 
party who went up the mountain have returned, excepting one 
lady and some gentlemen, who determined to pass the night in a 
little hotel there, to see the sun rise. All were much fatigued, 
and a storm of wind and a foggy morning disappointed those who 
had adventured an uncomfortable night. 

August 23. — My acquaintances invited me to join a party of 
ten in an open cliar-a-hanc to go on to the Profile House, about 
twenty-five miles, at Franconia. We started as soon as Mrs. 

P came down from Mount Washington, about three o'clock. 

The drive was beautiful, just our Highlands upon rather a greater 
scale as to forests and torrents ; with mountains about the height 
of those around Braemar. Smoke rose in all directions from the 
burning trees. We passed close to one of considerable size, 
which was on fire at the bottom, with flames creeping up the 
trunk and peeping out of holes. It was dark before we reached 
the Profile House, an hotel built, as usual in this country, 
upon a very large scale ; the saloon or drawing-room I should 
imagine at least thirty-eight feet square, and the dining-room 
sixty feet long. There are probably eighty travellers accom- 
modated here at this moment. Streams of visitors usually suc- 
ceed each other for about three months ; but during the rest of 
the year few people come to this mountainous district. After 
breakfast to-day, our party set off in the char-a-hanc with four 



rOIiEST FIRES. 47 

liorses, to see the waterfalls and the Valley of the Flume ; pass- 
ing by the mountain Profile and lake. A legend is attached to 
the latter, which says, that all who rise early enough may see the 
old man of the mountain take his bath in the lake. The scenery 
round the Flume House is so fine, that I mean to remove there, 
five miles from hence, to-morrow ; and I shall join an American 

acquaintance, Miss F , who has been much in England, and 

who likes drawing and rambling as much as I do. I shall be the 
more willing to exchange my quarters, as the friends I have trav- 
elled with from Lake Winnipiseogee return to their homes at 
Boston to-morrow. This afternoon we rowed upon the Echo 
Lake, and heard all its reverberations of horns, and cannon, and 
voices, which are very clear and distinct. It is a ' pond' of no 
great size, but deep — very deep. Before tea I walked to Profile 
Lake to finish a sketch, and look for flowers. I found a very 
sweet and pretty yellow Utricularia, quite new to me, growing at 
the edge of the water; and I also picked a coi:)per-coloured 
cotton-grass to-day, near the Flume House, besides a beautiful 
little creeping plant in the woods. To-night, the forest is on fire 
upon a mountain just above this house ; the sight is grand, but 
rather terrific. These fires are believed to arise from careless- 
ness, or, perhaps, occasionally from some spirit of wanton mis- 
chief They can only be extinguished by heavy rain ; and now 
the underwood is so very dry, much damage may be done. I 
suppose the flames we have been watching may be at two miles' 
distance; but if the wind should rise and drive them down 
towards this hotel, I should be alarmed for its safety; being 
erected entirely of wood, sparks falling upon it would be very 
dangerous. For some days past we have observed these forest 
fires in many directions. Sometimes they are intentional, to 
make clearings, but in general they are regretted ; and I feel 
grieved at the destruction of the beautiful trees and underwood 
which thirty years' growth cannot replace. 

As the weather continues so enjoyable for mountain exercises, 
I propose to remain at the Flume till Monday next; then, prob- 
ably, we shall take the railroad, ten miles from thence, and visit 



48 PROFILE HOUSE. 

Lake George, if I hear tliat Mr. T is there ; or else I may 

go by Montreal to Quebec, putting off the Falls of Niagara until 
after my return, as I am told that brilliant autumn tints will add 
to the picturesque effect, and if possible increase the splendour 
of Niagara. This evening a German gentleman played on the 
piano in the large room, with the usual taste and musical know- 
ledge of his country, and some young ladies and gentlemen 
waltzed quietly and gracefully. All the travellers I fall in with 
are civil and obliging. I have not had as yet the least reason to 
complain of want of attention from either master or servants. 
I am told I may be less fortunate as we travel further west or 
south ; but hitherto none of my own little preparations or con- 
veniences against travelling difiiculties have been in requisition ,• 
the only thing I miss is good household bread. There seems to 
be no such article in use ; nothing but new soft rolls and biscuits, 
and buckwheat cakes, which are so like our pancakes, that I 
mistook them for something of that kind. So much for eatables. 
As to drinkables, I have hardly observed any one gentleman or 
lady take any other beverage than iced-water, milk, or tea. It 
is said that all classes of men make great use of brandy, but I 
have not seen any of it drunk ; and as to smoking, it is not more 
general here than in England. It is not made half as disagree- 
able as in Germany. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 

p^ g^ — This letter will be conveyed to Boston to-morrow 
morning. I have not any time to read over what I have written, 
therefore repetitions are probable. I have little chance of hearing 
from England till I reach Canada, and the month since I left it 
appears four times as long, from having already seen so many 
new faces and fresh places. Very little public news has reached 
me, and I feel anxious about the Baltic fleet, particularly as I 
hear that cases of cholera have occurred on board the St. Jean 
d'Acre, 





OTo troJxo (rr6V4N<d.oo ct6'>o ct6'io rrti'io 



LETTEE YL 

PLEASANT RAMBLES. 

Flume House, White Mountatxs, New ) 
Hampsphike, U. S. August 25. j 

My Dear Friends, — 

I came here yesterday from the Profile House, in one of the 
usual cha7'-d-hancs ; some friends went the other way on their re- 
turn home, but I found all my new compagnons de voyage oblig- 
ing and agreeable. As the distance was only five or six miles, I 
requested to be left to sketch rocks and a waterfall by the road- 
side, about half of that distance, where the mountain-torrent has 
worn the granite into a singular bowl. After trying almost fruit- 
lessly to give some idea of the place, I enjoyed a pleasant walk 
through the still and tranquil forest, with a sense of the most 
perfect security. No fear of Indian tomahawk, or wild or uncivil 
or riotous human beings ; not a reptile of any kind to prevent me 
from going into the bush and bog after flowers ; even bears are 
now hardly ever seen in these woods, though it is said that one 
has made its way to a patch of corn near this house. I think 
there is no positive proof that some tamer animal was not the 
marauder. When I reached this hotel, I found R comfort- 
ably settled, and my things in a pleasant room with a verandah, 
looking upon an extensive view on two sides. I have both win- 
dows wide open all night, without feeling any draught, though I 
sleep between them ; and yet I have felt no heat so oppressive as 
that of a warm summer's day in England.- 

August 26. — Yesterday, I much enjoyed the fine scenery. A 
3 



60 ' THE FLUME.' 

lady who has passed some time in England went out to draw with 

me ; and after dinner, Dr. and "Mrs. B , both kind and 

pleasant people, accompanied iis in another ramhle. What is called 
' the Flume ' is very fine ; and the water being so low, there is no 
difficulty in walking up the bed of the torrent. Enormous tables 
of granite rock, apparently without a flaw for twenty yards together, 
bed the stream in an easy ascent to a rocky gorge, where an im- 
mense boulder, almost circular, hangs suspended overhead, jammed 
in between two cliffs. How fine it must be, when the water roars 
down this chasm ! though a drought now enables us to see the chan- 
nel more completely ; and at another point called the Dell, a steep 
descent brings one down to a pool of twenty or thirty feet in depth, 
clear as crystal ; here, a rude boat has been established by an old 
man and his wife, with their son ; for this little emerald-coloured 
mountain ' tarn ' is of sufficient size to paddle about in it. 

The larger drawing-room in this hotel, is fitted up with every 
comfort, and there is an excellent piano. The evening party was 
large, perhaps from forty to fifty ; an elephant well manufactured 
out of two bipeds walked in to amuse the children ; one of the house- 
attendants played quadrilles very fairly on the violin; two sets were 
made up for dancing; some young ladies also sang in tune and 
very sweetly together. Attached to both this house and the Notch, 
there are bowling-alleys under cover, where ladies and gentlemen 
can take exercise and amusement in wet weather. On the whole, I 
doubt whether in England as large and heterogeneous a society ac- 
cidentally gathered together, would conduct itself with so much 
good humour and propriety as that which I find here. All converse 
without introduction, yet I have seen nothing like forwardness or 
vulgarity of manner : though there is a degree of restraint and 
stiffness, I find myself much more at home than I should be in 
any hotel, either on the Continent of Europe or in the British 
Isles — it is more like the freedom of a very large country-house 
in Enf^land. This peculiarity of American manners I have never 
heard mentioned — and it is certainly a striking one. I hear the 
gong going its rounds to awaken the sleeping, as we breakfast at 
seven o'clock, and at as early as six a gong is sounded ; the same 



THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 61 

custom prevailed at the Profile House, whicli belongs to the person 
who has this hotel also. I go to bed at nine or soon after, and 
get up with the light. 

August 26. — We had rain yesterday, the first which has fall- 
en in this mountain region for three months ; and it gave me an 
opportunity of seeing how a wet day is got through here. After 
breakfast, there was a great deal of agreeable music, to which the 
whole company listened with enjoyment; two or three young 
ladies and one gentleman sang duets and trios and lively songs 
very well. Afterwards, a large party adjourned to the house 
appropriated to bowling : there are three alleys, and slides for 
the return of balls ; the game was played with sides : it is a good 
exercise. After joining in one game, I left them, the weather 
having rather improved, and went out with my umbrella and 
sketch-book, — as I was anxious to see a view overlooking the 
house. I got drenched, but succeeded in my wishes, and after 
dressing, I went down stairs to a comfortable wood-fire in one of 
the smaller parlours. Before tea there was some needlework 
going on, a whist-table (but no one plays for money here), and a 
young lady played nursery songs at the piano, six little children 
belonging to difi'erent visitors joining their voices in the choruses, 
one as young as four, but all were in tune, and seemed to enjoy 
it much. After tea, there was again music and dancing, and I 
played a rubber of whist with two gentlemen and a lady till bed- 
time. One of the gentlemen had lent me a Boston paper contain- 
ing the last news from Europe, by which it appears that the Island 
of Aland and the Crimea are both under attack. Some of the 
people here are Southerners, and two families have black nursos. 

These mountains attract visitors from all parts of the Union, 
and I have no doubt the summer meetings — either here, at New- 
port, Nahant, Saratoga, or the Virginia Springs — tend much to 
promote acquaintanceship and good feeling among the difi'erent 
States, which vary so much in their internal laws and regulations. 
Bigamy is severely punished in nearly all, while polygamy has 
been hitherto not only permitted but encouraged among the 
Mormons. Yet I am told that the Mormon delegate to Congress 



52 THE MORMONS. 

is thought a sensible and intelligent man, though he has seven 
wives ! but it seems to be hoped that much time will not elapse 
before the immorality and absurdities introduced by Smith and 
Young, and hitherto enforced upon their deluded followers, will 
be cast off. At present their polity is a kind of spiritual despot- 
ism ; yet it is generally admitted that their community is orderly 
and very industrious ; though as no man can leave his property 
to his children or relations, it falls to the church upon his death, 
and the accumulation of such riches must strengthen the power 
of the priestly Mormons, and enable them to keep their people in 
subjection for a considerable time to come. I do not yet under- 
stand how this accumulation of property is to be applied. 

August 27. — There is a chapel here, which is used if any 
clergyman who is travelling can do duty ; but that not being the 
case to-day, service was not read. No church is within an acces- 
sible number of miles. After dinner, two or three families, con- 
sisting of seventeen individuals, went away for the purpose of 
sleeping to-night at Plymouth, twenty-five miles distant, to catch 
a railroad there early to-morrow, or, as it is here expressed, ' to 
meet the cars.' Nearly all the travellers and inmates gathered 
at the door to see the party off, and to wish them good-bye, 
although many had met here for the first time in their lives. 
Greater cordiality and kindness of feeling was evinced on this 
occasion than I ever saw before among people so new to each 
other. But I am told that in hotels in and near great towns, 
there is little of that frankness and cordiality which have so 
pleasingly impressed me at the White Mountains. 

The weather was again fine to-day, and in the afternoon I 
walked alone up the Flume. It is the bed of a torrent which 
comes down a very picturesque defile : now, while the water is 
low, one can walk along the wide, smooth, granite tabular rocks, 
which during the winter are covered by the foaming waters. I 
never saw such huge masses of granite before : it is very white 
and large grained ; and as I saw no mica, I suppose it may be si- 
enite. When I returned home, some of the people had got what 
they called a hedgehog, just caught in the woods ; I did not see 



WELLS RIVER. 53 

it very near, but as it was the size of a small pig, I concluded it 
must have been some species of porcupine. 

August 28. — This morning Miss F and I got to the top 

of Pemmewhasset, a mountain above this house, from which there 
is a charming view up and down the valley of the Saca. The 
ascent was gradual and easy, but we did not reach the Hotel 
again till long after dinner-time ; and though we met a party going 
up on horseback, we did not regret having trusted to our own feet, 
which is much pleasanter than riding, and enables one to look 
after plants, besides which, I feel more safe, and by sitting down 
frequently to rest, the fatigue is not very much greater than on 
horseback. After our return, the weather cleared sufficiently for 
me to see an extensive view of the valley from my window, which 
has hitherto been hid by smoke and clouds ; and I made a sketch 
from the verandah. The coach brought many more visitors, 

among them a Mr. and Mrs. C , from the South, who will go 

on with me to-morrow as far as Plymouth, and I am by and by 
to try if I can visit them at A'ppalachicola, in Florida. 

August 29. — I proceed this morning after breakfast, at eight 
o'clock, for Burlington, going round by Plymouth instead of 
Lyttleton, to avoid returning ten miles by the same route which 
brought me here ; and I thus see the Saco valley, which I am told 
is beautiful. 

August 30. — Wells Biver, New Hampshire. — This is so 
pretty a place, that I determined to stop here at three o'clock 
yesterda}^, and go on to-morrow by the eleven o'clock cars, which 
will reach Burlington by five. I have a letter to the Bishop of 
Vermont, who lives within a mile or two of that place ; it is on 
Lake Champlain. The weather is again perfect. I spent all yes- 
terday evening walking Lbout and sketching. The people here 
vie with one another in kindness and civility, yet I have been 
troubled with rothing unpleasantly obtrusive. From the Flume 
House we came hither in a coach, with six active horses well 
driven in hand. It carried eighteen passengers, nine inside and 
nine outside. The road, through deep sand, runs nearly the whole 
way by the River Saco, the same we passed at Conway. I am 



64 BURLINGTON. 

told it flows into the sea somewiiere near Portland, and that this 
valley is not that of Merrimac, but Saco. The Merrimac river is 
the outpouring of Lake Winnipiseogee. We had observed it 
flowing by Dover, &c., as we came from Boston; it is a handsome 

river. Mr. and Mrs. C , from the South, and six other ladies, 

all agreeable people, were my companions in the coach to Ply- 
mouth. We dined there ; they took the cars for Boston, and 

R and I for this place. A smaller and a larger river unite 

here ; the Indian name of one is Ammonoosuc. I hope I may 
find out the translation of it, for these Indian names have always 
some beautiful meaning. The two railroad stations are almost 
close together : one is called Woodsville, and another Wells River 
depot — the word used in America. The hills around, well 
wooded, but with openings and rocks enough to be picturesque, 
are tossed about in every direction. All this country is called 
granitic on Marcou's geological map ; but Ave passed through a 
cutting yesterday which looked more like something Silurian ; it 
might have been a mica schist of some kind. The breakfast hour 
here is half-past six ; and before I start for Burlington by the 
eleven o'clock cars, Mr. Wild, the master of this Wells House 
Hotel (he was born and brought up in the White Mountains, be- 
tween the Notch and Profile Houses), ofi"ers to show me the rap- 
ids of the Connecticut River. 

August 31. — Burlington. — I had a pleasant, though hot and 
dusty journey here yesterday. Notwithstanding the frequent 
changing of cars, which occurs sometimes four or five times in a 
distance of about 120 miles, I prefer the American mode of trav- 
elling in long cars, to that upon our railroads. I have as yet 
seen no great carelessness, except that of crossing the roads with 
no other warning than large boards overhead, on each side with 
a notice to ' Look out for the Engine,' in large letters — (about 
Boston ' while the hell rings ' is added) ; and it is the duty of the 
fireman, or the conductor, before and after passing every cross- 
way, to ring a large bell, which swings above his head ; but from 
Plymouth here, I have heard none of these bells. The long cars, 
which on an average carry sixty each, are comfortable ; you may 



CONNECTICUT RIVER. 65 

turn two seats so as to face eacli other ; and tnough they are in- 
tended to accommodate two or three each, R and I, by tak- 
ing possession in time, have always been left to ourselves ; and 
even if you have a dirty or disagreeable neighbour, it is not half 
so bad at any time as the Bhine steam-boats — for no smoking is 
allowed in these cars. They are very airy, and have comfortable 
seats. There is a sense of security, too, in the greater width and 
solidity, and the power of ready communication with every part 
of the train. I may change my opinion, but hitherto I have 
found travelling in the American cars less fatiguing than in our 
railroad carriages. 

I gained some information from Mr. Wild, in our walk to the 

rapids before leaving Wells River. R and I set off with him 

about half-past nine o'clock. When we got to the descent through 
thick forest down to the river, she was obliged to give up the 
attempt, having got some flowers for me, and too much in her 
hands for the scrambling necessary. Between the drought and 
the fir-choppings, it was so slippery that even Mr. Wild fell two 
or three times in giving me assistance ; and I was often obliged 
to take to my hands and knees, from not being able to keep upon 
my feet ; however, I got down to the edge of the river. The 
Connecticut widens out here, looking almost like a lake, and then 
rushes through such a narrow gorge between rocks, that an active 
hunter might leap his horse from one side to the other. In 
winter, it must be a fine rush ; at present, the river is so low that 
it can get through the passage quietly enough. I find that three 
rivers meet at this point. I thought there were only two. I 
suppose, therefore, ' Three Rivers,' which I found marked upon a 
map I have, is the right name of the place. 

We returned only just in time for the eleven o'clock train ; 
and as there is no other for Burlington, to have missed this one 
would have been inconvenient. I never had such a beautiful drive 
as that through the whole country to Lake Champlain. As far 
as White River junction, it follows the Connecticut for fifty miles, 
and then the White River. The scenery may be compared alter- 
nately to that of the Tay, the Tweed, and the Tamar, but still 



56 RATTLESNAKES. 

finer than all ; with gardens, ornamental trees, relieved by maples 
now getting their scarlet liveries, foregrounds of maize and 
brilliant orange pumpkins, and every now and then a column of 
white smoke rising from the forest fires. These Vermont Moun- 
tains are not higher than those around Blair and Invercauld, so 
that they never rise into the gigantic peaks of the Swiss Alps; 
but they are very lovely. 

On reaching Burlington, though nearly dark, the master of 
the hotel provided me with a safe little carriage to drive out to 
the Bishop of Vermont's, about two miles' distance. I found 
him with his family, and received an obliging invitation to spend 
the next day with them. There is not much to be seen at Bur- 
lington. I have heard of its beauty, but, with the exception of 
the lake, it seems ^ sandy, uninteresting place, — the lake itself 
looking like a sea; and it would take seven or eight hours to 
steam rapidly down it. I find myself in a comfortable, large 
hotel, well provided in all respects. At ten o'clock, I walked with 

"^. out to the Bishop's. I did not see a great many flowers 

on our way, owing to the vegetation being so burned up ; but I 
found fine trees of the black oak, covered with acorns with large 
bumpy cups : the ' pigeon grass ' (so called here), and a pretty 
little vetch. I made a sketch of the lake, and of Burlington, 
from the Bishop's verandah — a fine eagle soaring about as an 
accessory to the view ; and, after an early dinner, we walked 
down to a beautiful little rocky bathing bay, where the children 
disport themselves in the water without the least fear or danger. 
Growing among sand and rocks, a pretty Iris in seed. Whether 
unknown in England or not, I cannot tell ; but in going through a 
rocky copse, I gathered a fern, and several things new to my eyes ; 
and on the shore I picked up some fresh-vrater shells. I under- 
stand there are rattlesnakes in one or two spots in this neighbour- 
hood, but it seems they have so large a bump of ' locality,' that 
they remain as constant to particular spots as flov/ers to their 
habitats. So that, unless one goes to visit them, there is no 
danger of making their acquaintance; therefore I sliall always 
inquire their whereabouts. I did not take my leave till near 
eight o'clock at night. 



QUEBEC, 57 

September 1.— Quebec^ Spencer Wood. — As I left Burlington 
in the steamer, to take the cars at Roches Point, by four o'clock 
in the morning, arrived at Montreal by eleven, and left for Que- 
bec at seven in the evening, I had no time for writing, yesterday. 

Dr. L , the professor and a clergyman, was so obliging as to 

take me a pleasant drive round the heights, from whence we had 
a fine view of the St. Lawrence River and the neighbourhood. 
I visited the Roman ' Catholic church and the Museum, where I 
saw some stuffed specimens of the wild beasts which are now 
becoming extinct in the woods of this part of Canada. I saw 
also a specimen of a small owl which is peculiar to these parts. 

Before seven o'clock we went on board the steamer, which 
was very full of passengers for Quebec. Among them a party of 
squaws and Indian boys from some tract bordering upon this great 
river : they had a large assortment of neat and showy handiworks 
in beads for sale — gentlemen's travelling caps, bags, slippers, and 
watch-cases, and seemed to be very shrewd and cautious in carry- 
ing on their bargains, though I could not make them understand 
either French or English. I do not know when they ' absquatu- 
lated ' (to use a Far West expression), but as we stopped several 
times during the night, and I did not see them afterwards, I sup- 
pose they landed somewhere. We did not undress. As some 
individuals of our large party in the ladies' cabin were talking or 
moving about at all times during the night, we could only get 
snatches of sleep in our berths;- and I thought this night's voy- 
age so tiresome and tedious, that with the first dawn of light I 
went on deck ; but owing to the great width of the river, and the 
steamer keeping in mid-channel, we were not close enough to either 
shore to make her progress interesting. I think the St. Law- 
rence is nearly as wide as Ullswater is long, and it is difficult to 
realize that we are traversing a river instead of crossing a lake. 
I saw very little shipping till we arrived at Quebec — a few lum- 
ber schooners, at anchor here and there, but nothing sailing ; very 
different this from the liveliness of the sea around Beverley and 
Salem. 

The population of Quebec and Montreal, upon a first in spec- 



58 SPEKCEIl WOOD. 

tion, does uot look so weli-to-do, and thriving as that of Boston 
and some other American cities ; this may be partly owing to the 
prevalence of Roman Catholics here, just as one finds it in Eu- 
rope. Where that persuasion has the ascendency, the people are 
either stationary or retrograde ; and in Quebec, there are more 
churches and more beggars than in any other place I have yet 
seen on this side the Atlantic. Indeed, I never met a beggar in 
Boston — not even among the Irish ; and ladies have told me they 
could not find a poor family on whom to exercise their benevo- 
lent feelings. "VYe arrived at this place by breakfast time : it 
hasjb thoroughly English appearance, with a splendid view of the 
St. Lawrence from the windows. 

Lord Elgin tells me this is the day for the letters to go, so I 
must conclude hastily ; and, as there is rain, I shall probably do 
little more to-day than stay in-doors and rest myself. 

Yours afiectionately, 

A. M. M 



LETTER YIL 



QUEBEC. 



Spenoer Wood, Quebec, ) 
Sept. 2, 1854. \ 

My Dear Friends, 

I suspect that the end of the letter which I sent off yester- 
day, just after my arrival, was dated the 3d instead of the 1st : 
my notions about days and dates are rather confused, from having 
been very little in bed since Wednesday night. I find now that 
my letter written a week ago from Wells River, to fix the day of 
my coming here, never reached Lord Elgin : the American post- 
office does not appear to be as exact or as well-regulated as ours. 
I hope you receive all my packets ? I think this will be the fifth 
or sixth letter I have sent off. I generally write about one a 
fortnight — but not a line from you yet, or from any one in Eng- 
land, excepting a letter I have got from Mr. S -, dated August 

2nd ; but despatches from home are expected to-day, and I hope 
to get something. This morning, at seven o'clock, it is still thick 
and rainy — I cannot even see the St. Lawrence from my window ; 
and all day yesterday we had a large coal fire. September is con- 
sidered the last of the summer months in Canada ; and with the 
leaves still green, the weather looks and feels, at present, very 
like a mild November in England. 

This is a large house, with a good conservatory, and handsome 
reception-rooms, though they are considered low for their size 



60 A COMPARISON. 

The fields and turf look as green as la England — tlie first bit of 
frcsli-looking grass I have seen these three weeks. At Montreal 
there was not the least appearance of verdure, and very few trees, 
even immediately about the town, though the villas and the hills 
are well wooded. I found that place prettier than I expected ; 
but it must be an uninteresting residence, as there appears to be 
but one drive around the hill at the back. A bridge on the tubu- 
lar principle, which will be the largest in the world, is begun ; it 
is to unite the town with the railroad over the St. Lawrence ; I 
was told that 1600 workmen are already employed in its construc- 
tion. It is the undertaking of an English company, and may vie 
with our Crystal Palace in the enterprise and skill it will call 
forth. 

Lord Elgin is much occupied just now by the opening of the 
new Canadian Parliament, on the 6th; and of course the party 
spirit, and agitation, and jealousy which the reform and enlarge- 
ment of that body have excited is unbounded. Every one wants 
to do and to be everything ; and though to an impartial stranger 
it is a difficult matter to comprehend what these people would be 
at, yet it is interesting to observe the efforts of a young nation to 
make use of a newly acquired power. It resembles the first 
attempts of an infant to exercise its legs — eager, awkward, and 
almost alarming, though necessary and salutary to gain habit, 
future strength, and experience ; but as patience and temper are 
required from a good nurse when her child begins to walk alone ; 
so even the calmness and placability of Lord Elgin is likely to be 
severely tried by his wayward children here — they may even 
quarrel with their own bread-and-butter to begin with. 

Sept. 3. — Monday. — I had a day of repose yesterday. The 
gentlemen went off early to their official duties, and I was very 
glad to rest myself, and gather up my thoughts a little. We 
dined at seven, and I went early to bed. This morning an Eng- 
lish mail arrived, and we got letters. Cholera seems worse in 
England than I had any idea of; that complaint has abated here. 
In the afternoon, Lord Elgin drove me in his phaeton to the 
Oathedral at Quebec — a large respectable building, with a good 



QUEBEC. 61 

organ, remarkably well played, and the singing led by the pleas- 
ing voices of young Quebec ladies and gentlemen. After church 
we walked on the platform overlooking the St. Lawrence, where 
there is an extensive and beautiful view. Before going home we 

called to inquire after a sick young lady at Sir H. C 's, and 

saw another fine view of Quebec, with its mountains and river ; we 
walked back from thence two miles to Spencer Wood. The Sun- 
day amusement of young men here seems to be driving about 
little gigs, or wagons as they are called, in the most reckless and 
furious way possible ; it seemed to me as if they would knock 
down even their Governor-Greneral without the least compunction, 
if he happened to be in their way ! 

September 6. — I did not write yesterday, In the morning 
I was absorbed by a file of English newspapers down to the 
eighteenth of last month. Alas ! social questions seem to be 
still made of secondary importance by the war. Not a word 
about the erring children, so I conclude nothing has been done 
to save them from deeper crime. A young man of twenty, at 
Dartmoor, has made a most furious and savage attempt on 
the life of one of the keepers. Ten years ago that man was a 
child — who but the Parent State is to blame that he is now a 
murderer ? 

September 6. — In the afternoon of yesterday, I spent three 
hours botanizing. There are some interesting plants in a wood 
not far distant, particularly some ferns, worth transplanting into 
our English gardens. The Governor-General opened the Parlia- 
ment to-day ; but as he leaves them to choose their Speaker, pre- 
paratory to his speech being delivered to-morrow, I put off going 
till then. I went to call upon a lady to whom I had a letter of 
introduction : she lives for the present (while out of town) at a 
cottage within a walk of this place, where I found a garden with 
some interesting plants of this country, and one of the most ven- 
erable-looking paper birch trees I have yet seen, for they have 
generally been straight and of no great size ; this has many arms 
branching to the ground. Mrs. M told me that only yester- 
day a humming-bird came to the creener near her window. T 



62 A PARADOX. 

did not know they were found so far north ; and I have not yet 
been so fortunate as to see one. 

A Mr. Sicotte has been elected Speaker, upon the principle 
(as far as I can understand it) by which the Americans most 
usually elect their Presidents. Neither party being able to 
secure the election of their own man, they unite in voting for an 
individual not popular with either ; so that in practice a popular 
election makes an unpopular choice — what a paradox ! Each in- 
dividual voter saying to himself, ' If I am not to have my oivn 
man, no one else shall have his man ; ' and so nobody's man is 
the man chosen — is not this an odd practice ? A very stormy 
night — thunder and lightning, and rain — very cold, too. How 
lucky we have been that the bad weather has kept off till now, 
when,jin a comfortable house with a bright fire, v/e can rest ; and, 
enjoying the retrospect of past sunshine, look forward to an In- 
dian summer for Niagara. 

Septemher 7. — Another cold and gloomy-looking morning, so 
I wrote letters, hoping for sunshine by three o'clock, when we 
were to go to Quebec to hear the Governor-General make his 
speech to the Canadian Parliament. The weather cleared up in 
the middle of the day ; Captain H — — drove me into the town, 

and Colonel I placed me with Mrs. and Miss I in the 

gallery of the concert-room, where the Canadian Parliament has 
assembled since their own houses were burned. The whole place 
was crammed, and in the gallery were nearly as many ladies as 
gentlemen ; the assembly showing the most breathless interest. 
Behind the throne there is a reporters' gallery ; before it a table 
and chairs for judges, of whom Mr. Bowen is the oldest in the 
Queen's dominions. On each side were rows of double desks, 
covered with crimson, two members sitting at each ; and as they 
choose their own seats, and retain them, a man can have his par- 
ticular friend by him during the session — an advantage, particu- 
larly in this country. The ceremony is much like that in Eng- 
land. Guns are fired when the Governor arrives. He read the 
speech well and most distinctly, first in English, and then in 
French, the House of Deputies standing at the Bar. I thought 



QUEBEC. 63 

Lord Elgin was well received, an air of great respect pervading, 
and I heard applause as lie went out. His great ability, united 
as it is with firmness, and the most straightforward character pos- 
sible, has been of infinite value to this rising country ; although 
party feeling and the tempers of a few disappointed spirits, 
aided by an ill-written and abusive Press, in some measure dim 
the brilliancy of his career ; or rather misrepresent it at this 
moment. 

Septemher 8. — At twelve o'clock last night, I returned from 
Quebec, after sitting almost nine hours, watching the proceedings 
of the House of Deputies with so much interest that, for the 
time, I was neither hungry nor tired. The order of the day — 
an Address upon the Governor-General's speech ; but this was 
not brought forward at all during my stay, so what happened 
after twelve o'clock remains to be seen ; but it appeared to me 
the business they had in hand was enough to occupy them during 
the whole of their first sitting. A Bouge member took prece- 
dence, by a motion to the effect that a certain Timothy Brodeur, 
a unanimously returned member for the district of Bagot, having 
illegally acted as returning officer after his election, and thus re- 
turned himself — the said Timothy Brodeur was illegally seated ; 
and the motion therefore went on to summon Timothy the return- 
ing officer to the Bar of the House, to be questioned as to whether 
he was Timothy Brodeur, Esq., who was elected member for 
Bagot, or not. This motion was opposed by the lawyers attached 
to the Government ; first, because they knew nothing about the 
case ; secondly, because they affirmed it was an act of tyranny to 
oblige the said Timothy to give evidence against himself, without 
any previous notice ; and, thirdly, because Timothy Brodeur the 
member not being proved legally to be Timothy the returniug 
officer, it would be a breach of Parliamentary privilege to order 
a member to the Bar without first proving him to be the person 
required. Both sides of the House, however, admitted there was 
but one Timothy ; and it seemed to me, upon a simple, unlearned 
view of the case, that there was a great deal of quibbling and 
special pleading ; so that I, as an unprejudiced observer, should 



64 THE HOUSE OF DEPUTIES. 

have voted with the Opposition against the Ministry; and I 
imagine Mr. Hincks, the prime minister, was not very well satis- 
fied with the grounds upon which his colleagues were battling, for 
he kept out of the way as much as possible, and took no part in 
the long debate which followed. There were several divisions, in 
all of which the Ministry were beat by a majority of twenty-four 
or twenty -five ; apparently, the question was not if Timothy 
should be questioned at all, but whether he should have time to 
answer whether he was the real Simon Pure, or not ? And the 
fight seemed to be about the words ' immediately,' or ' to-mor- 
row,' or ' next day.' I imagine that in England the whole affair 
would have been referred to a Committee of Privileges, and not 
have been allowed to stand in the way of the Address upon the 
Queen's Speech ; but there appears such a determination in the 
majority to turn out the present Ministry, that perhaps it prefers 
to show its strength upon this question (which does not touch 
upon the Governor-G-eneral's speech at all, and who does not even 
know the circumstances which gave rise to it), than upon the Ad- 
dress itself. But of course this is only my conjecture, founded 
on the difficulty, that any truly patriotic Canadian could grumble 
at the speech delivered from the Throne on Wednesday last. It 
was more than half-past ten o'clock before Timothy was fairly 
brought to the Bar of the House. First, the Serjeant-at-Arms 
was sent to summon him ; but Timothy only shook his head and 
remained unmoved, (having the whole evening heard the com- 
plaints and borne the attacks against himself in the most silent 
and imperturbable manner.) Then the House felt its dignity 
insulted, and another motion was carried, to the efi'ect that the 
Speaker should make out his warrant for the arrest of the con- 
tumacious Timothy ; and lastly, the Serjeant-at-Arms, removing 
the mace from the table, walked up with it to the contumacious 
member, who then followed quietly to the Bar, and stood there 
looking simple and innocent as a lamb — a gentle-looking old man, 
unable, I suspect, to speak English ; perhaps he only half under- 
stood the business, after all. He admitted that he was Timothy 
Brodeur, Esq., the member, and also Timothy Brodeur, the re- 



THE PPwEMIEit's SPEECH. 65 

turning officer ; and that lie was to be paid twenty pounds for 
executing the latter office in his own favour ; but he said the money 
had never been paid to him. After this I came away, leaving 
Mr. Brodeur in the midst of his questioning ; and as the Opposi- 
tion hinted at two other cases of the same kind they meant to 
bring forward, it was hardly possible the Answer to the address 
could be debated this morning, so I hope to hear it still. 

The use of the two languages, at the pleasure of the different 
members alternately and indifferently, had a curious effect to me. 
Sometimes a member, after speaking in French, was asked to 
repeat in English what he had said in French, and vice versa. It 
seems that many of the new members understand only one lan- 
guage, and this must complicate affairs considerably. The manner 
in which divisions are taken is good in a small assembly, but it 
would occupy too much time in our House of Commons. The 
Noes stand up, and a clerk calls over their names to be written 
down at the table, and then the same process is gone through 
with the Ayes. This is advantageous for a stranger, as it iden- 
tifies each member. 

September 9. — Another cold showery day, and I preferred 
walking into Quebec to going in a carriage, having had no exercise 
yesterday. I called on Mrs. Mountain, the wife of the Bishop of 
Quebec, who sat by me at dinner here on Wednesday ; and then 

Captain H took me from Judge Bowen's into the House of 

Deputies. There was great excitement, for the news had become 
generally spread that the Ministers had resigned, and that Sir 
Allen M'Nab was forming a new Government. This was con- 
firmed, immediately after the House met, by Mr. Hincks himself, 
who moved that the orders of the day should be postponed till 
Monday, in consequence of the resignation of the Ministers ; and 
then spoke for some time. He gave a sketch- of all that had 
occurred during his tenure of office which bore upon the state of 
parties ; alluded slightly to the numerous measures for the im- 
provement of the people and the prosperity of Canada which had 
been originated and carried out during the six years he had ad- 
ministered public affairs; spoke feelingly of the base attacks 



66 

wliich had been levelled at his character ; and of the desertion of 
some former adherents who had played a base and double-dealing 
game, differing from the open and honest opposition which had 
characterized the conduct of other men whose motives he re- 
spected. Mackenzie, that little Celtic-looking deputy who was one 
of the leaders of the rebellion, had removed from his own seat, 
and placed himself in an arm-chair so as to be nearly opposite to 
Mr. Hincks : he took the opportunity of uttering a loud ' Hear, 
hear,' upon some observation, when the speaker, immediately 
looking him full in the face, broke forth into a very powerful, 
animated, and sarcastic exposure of the bitter animosity with 
which Mackenzie had pursued him, showing that he (Mackenzie) 
uttered by various means, and through numerous channels, the 
most false and libellous accusations, and then had ended by 
becoming his opponent at the election ; ' but,' continued Mr. 
Hincks, ' if I have had personal enemies, they have been more 
than counterbalanced by devoted friends. I had the satisfaction 
of polling more than three hundred votes when my adversary 
could only muster twenty-three ; and also of being returned for 
another place, without having asked for one suffrage from the 
electors.' It was generally thought that the retiring minister 
erred only in a too modest appreciation of the services of his 
administration. He merely said that the statute-book would show 
what had been effected during the time he had been employed in 
the service of his country, without even pointing out that he re- 
ceived his office when the people were discontented and adverse 
to the rule of England ; and that he gives it up, leaving them 
rapidly progressing, happy and loyal, with railroads opening and 
opened in all directions ; the most magnificent bridge in the world 
in progress, to connect the opposite shores of the St. Lawrence ; 
matters which have long been the cause of disunion and irritation 
permanently and irrevocably put to rest ; and the revenues of the 
two divisions of Canada trebled in amount. Deeds, not words. 
Mr. Hincks may not have said all he might have said for his own 
glorification, or even for the reputation of the Governor-General ; 
but he has left his office, having completed and carried out meas- 



SPENCER WOOD. 67 

ures for which the Canadians will have reason to bless the rule 
of Lord Elgin as long as their country has a name ; and, before 
one winter has passed over it, I am inclined to believe they will 
be sensible of the benefits which their late minister has been in- 
strumental in securing to them, and who, upon looking round their 
House of Assembly, stands almost as superior to his detractors as 
Sir R. Peel once rose above those who believed themselves equal 
to attacking him. The House adjourned till Monday, immedi- 
ately Mr. Hincks resumed his seat; and then numerous mem- 
bers — even Cochon and others who had been in Opposition — 
rushed forward to offer their hands : it was quite an interesting 
scene, and I observed tears on the cheeks of many. 

I walked back to Spencer Wood over the Plains of Abraham, 
passing Wolfe's Hotel, and other memorials of by-gone events. 
The weather was cold and threatening ; we want sunshine much ; 
but I reached home without rain enough to annoy me. Part of 
the way I walked over boarded paths, which are very common 
about the towns instead of flagstone pavement. They are much 
less fatiguing, but more expensive than pavement, as frequent re- 
newal is necessary. I have not yet attempted any sketches 
here. In the first place, the air has been cold, and the distances 
too hazy ; and then I have also been occupied by the interest of 
the present state of affairs. I have been very fortunate in arriv- 
ing just at a crisis which is quite exciting, and of course these 
circumstances enable me to study and to understand the state of 
parties and the feelings of the people here, better than I could do 

under the usual routine. Colonel C , who was a former 

Secretary to the Grovernor, is here. He married a Canadian 
lady, and lives wholly among the French Canadians. He tells 
me they are a most amiable people, quite free from bigotry of a 
proselyting kind ; that priests constantly visit at his house, but 
there never has been the least attempt to disturb his Protestant 
convictions, or to evince any irritation upon the subject. He 
has kindly invited me to visit his place of residence, near Mon- 
tj-eal, when I leave this : and I shall like much to profit by what 
may be my only opportunity of becoming acquainted with the 



68 MONSIEUR BRODEUB. 

manners and habits of Lower Canada, which I believe aie in 
many respects very different from those of the Upper Province. 

It seems that poor Monsieur Timothy Brodeur, the cause of all 
the disputes and excitement in the Parliament the day before 

yesterday, is a deputy from Mr. C 's neighbourhood ; that 

his error has been wholly owing to want of knowledge. He was 
made to come forward rather against his own inclination, and has 
sacrificed his tastes and his domestic enjoyments to get into this 
hot water — poor man ! Of course he is very much annoyed. It 
seems that most of the business of his return was conducted by 
another officer, but he unwittingly signed the paper himself, not 
being aware of the consequence, and the matter was taken up by 
another French Canadian, who, being a Rouge^ wished, I suppose, 
to spite his quieter countryman ; but one thing is certain, that 
Timothy Brodeur is not likely to attach himself to the Bouges 
after this business. He is an acquaintance of the new Speaker, 
Monsieur Sicotte, who was proposed by the Rouge party. By 
the by, he seems a gentlemanly, quiet man, who conducts the busi- 
ness pleasantly, and who, I should imagine, will be very generally 
liked by the members, though he seems to have been a man little 
known till he happened to be brought forward on this occasion. 

If this day is fine, I shall make interest with the gardener, 
and get him to accompany me with his spade to a wood near, to 
dig up some ferns, and then I will pack up the roots and send 
them straight to England from hence, which I think may give 
them a better chance of existence than going all round by Boston. 

Lord Elgin is going to have a dinner-party this evening, when 
the twelve retiring ministers will be present. I shall have the 
luck of seeing the two Cabinets all together upon two different 
days — the Outs and the Ins. This will be a fine opportunity for 
speculation. No one yet knows the names of the men likely to 
be put together by Sir Allan M'Nab, who may be considered the 
Lord Derby of Canada ; and he will have a similar difficulty as 
the one which beset the English Conservatives — for no minister 
can stand here who attempts to preserve the Clergy Reserves : 
whether right or wrong, the people ar j almost unanimous in con- 



QUEBEC. 69 

demning tiiem. So, as Lord Derby was obliged to confirm free- 
trade in opposition to the principles of his life, so Sir Allan 
M'Nab must sacrifice the Clergy Eeserves in opposition to his. 
He must select a mixed Cabinet, as his own party is otherwise 
too weak to stand, and nobody seems to know whether he will 
seek for assistance from the Kouges or the Whigs ; but, as ex- 
tremes generally meet, perhaps he will prefer the ultra Radicals, 
with whom he has voted to turn out the last Government, rather 
than ally himself with those who have been more provoking, 
because their opinions were not so antagonistic to his own as 
those of the Rouges. So it is in politics as well as in religion. I 
observe some people are more tolerant of Jews and Mahometans, 
than they are of Christians who may differ only a shade from 
themselves — just as family quarrels are the most bitter quarrels 
of all. One comfort is, the people here have not any ground left 
now upon which they can fight to any very mischievous degree ; 
and this happy agreement they certainly owe, in a great measure, 
to Lord Elgin. As well as I can guess, the present change may 
be attributed to a longing for office in some individuals, and a 
craving for variety in others. People get tired of the best thing 
if they have it always, provided there is any possibility of get- 
ting something else instead ; and this is one of the many advan- 
tages of our hereditary monarchy — the complete prevention of 
change for the sake of change. As to the purity of election and 
national choice, I have already discovered that neither the one nor 
the other is attained by American institutions, although as a whole, 
for a new country, they work very well ; and I should not ima- 
gine that the United States would be more prosperous under any 
other form of government than the one they possess ; still, many 
people assert there is now more positive individual liberty in 
Canada than among the Americans. Of this I have, as yet, had 
no fair means of judging. As the post for England goes to-day, 
T must leave the solution of the ministerial crisis here for the 
next mail, and let this go as it is. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



70 QUEBEC. 

The English mail has just arrived, and not one letter for me ! 
I shall probably stay here ten days longer, and it is best that 
every thing should be directed the same until after the 1st of 
October, when my friends must address to New York ; till then, 
Lord Elgin will know best where my letters can be sent. The 
sun has at last appeared, and I am going this afternoon to see the 
Falls of Montmorenci. I can leave this packet at the office at 
Quebec in my way. I will number my letters from this time, 
which will enable you to tell whether they reach England as 
regularly as I send them. 




LETTEK YIII. 

QUEBEC. 

Spi 

September 11, 1S54, 



Spencer Wood, Quebec, ) 



My DEAR Friends, — 

After sending off my last letter on Saturday, Lord Elgin's 

carriage took me into Quebec ; and from thence Capt. H 

drove me to see the falls of Montmorenci. I once heard a water- 
fall in the Isle of Man compared to Montmorenci ; but if there 
is any likeness, it is only that of a dwarf to a giant. The river 
Montmorenci pours down, almost suddenly, more than two hun- 
dred feet — a height greater than Niagara. It is received by the 
magnificent St. Lawrence, and the views ten miles up it, to 
Quebec, and almost as far down, to Cape Tourmente, are very 
fine. The drive home was beautiful. Owing to a custom here 
of roofing churches and houses with tin plates, the city of Quebec 
looked in the sunset, as if gemmed with diamonds. We had a 
bright, frosty-looking sun, with the air as cold as in November, 
in England. All the ex-ministers dined here to-day. During 
the evening I was told of another place, called Three Rivers, 
between this and Montreal, where some beautiful scenery is acces- 
sible. By stopping there one day in my way back, I should 
break the fatiguing monotony of another night voyage. 

Sunday, Sept. 10. — We went to morning service at Quebec ; 
very cold drive; a sharp north-easterly wind. In the afternoon 
we walked to the Protestant Cemetery upon the next point above 



72 THE CLERGY RESERVES. 

this place — a beautiful situation. We passed two handsome new 
churches, almost finished, within a quarter of a mile of each other ; 
one Roman Catholic, the other Protestant. They were Gothic, 
built of the pleasing coloured grey stone of the country. Though 
the great mass of the population around and in Quebec are 
Roman Catholics, one does not hear of religious disputes ; since 
Gavazzi excited an uproar at Montreal, I believe nothing of that 
kind has occurred. 

I went to call upon a Canadian lady, near eighty years of 
age, who understands the botany of this country better than any 
one I have met with. In earlier years, during the time of a for- 
mer Lady Dalhousie, Mrs. M acquired this taste from her, 

and she is quite pleased to have it revived. She took me to 
Quebec, and at three o'clock I went to see the Canadian Parlia- 
ment assemble. Sir Allan M'Nab was announced as the new 
minister; having formed his Government upon coalition princi- 
ples, he has taken in all the old ministers but three; changing 
his policy upon the Clergy Reserves, &c., &c., from deference to 
the general voice of this country. Sir Allan is perfectly aware 
that no Government can stand which refuses to adjust the Clergy 
Reserves. It is supposed that there are not now ten votes in the 
House willing to support them. So it seems the new Govern- 
ment comes in, only to carry out the views of their predecessors ; 
a strong proof that this change is only made for the sake of 
something fresh. Of course the new ministers could not take 
part in the debates, as they must be re-elected. Mr. Hincks 
made a frank and clear statement, in refutation of accusations 
which have been freely circulated during the last few days to the 
effect that he had recommended his successor, and sold his party 
to him. At the same time he expressed his intention of support- 
ing the new administration, as long as they were willing to carry 
out good measures. I remained in the House till it was time to 
return to dinner at Spencer Wood ; the speeches were generally 
dull, excepting those of a few, whose disappointment and anger, 
at the result of the changes, created some excitement. One 
speaker actually maintained that any attack out of doors upon 



CAROUGE. 73 

the character of a prime minister, was sufficient to render him 
unfit to continue in office, because such attacks weakened the 
confidence of the people, and agitated the country ; — so, accord- 
ing to this doctrine, a leader is to be always at the mercy of the 
mendacious scandal-mongers of a community ! — a most extraordi- 
nary political axiom. Capt. H drove me and Mr. 

home ; it was a cold, frosty night, but not quite so sharp as yes- 
terday, when Dahlias and potatoes were cut down ; but I console 
myself by hoping this may be all the winter I shall get, if I 
proceed toward the South in December. It strikes me as singu- 
lar that the weather should be so cold, while the leaves are still 
upon the trees, for I see none fallen, and only here and there 
a branch of foliage turning red and yellow. 

Septemher 12. — Yesterday, a lady took me to visit at a very 
pretty place, called here Carouge, a corruption of Cap-rouge, on 
the banks of the St. Lawrence, where the river Carouge falls 
into it. The view from the windows reminded of Colonel Har- 
court's, near Ryde. I gathered acorns off two or three oaks 
there, differing from ours ; one with the mid-rib of the leaf red ; 
and, ultimately, I hope to collect all the American species. In a 
wood near the house, some Indians had erected a wigwam, oblong 
in form, and not very picturesque ; it was lined throughout with 
birch bark. The drive from Spencer Wood to Cap-rouge along 
the banks of the river is very beautiful ; the villas between the 
road and the banks belong principally to merchants engaged in 
the lumber trade, for the edge of the river all the way to Quebec 
is covered by rafts of timber, and numerous vessels are ready to 
convey it to England. 

Septemher 13. — I spent the morning with my old friend at 
Ash Cottage. She gave me many specimens of the early-blowing 
flowers, of which I can now only find the leaves, among them the 
Mocassin. We afterward drove along a beautiful river-coast 
road, and went through St. Foy. In the evening there was a 
ball here, attended by many pretty young Canadian ladies, who 
were dressed in good taste, and danced well ; their general ap- 
pearance and manners were beyond what is to be commonly met 
4 



74 THE INDUSTRIAL EXmBITION. 

witli at country town balls in England. I made the acquaintance 
of a Mr. Cameron, wlio lives near Lake Huron, and who promises 
that his daughter shall introduce me to the plants of that vicinity, 

September 14. — Lord Elgin took me to the great Agricultural 
and Industrial Exhibition of Quebec, held in a fine situation 
overlooking the river. I saw some interesting things ; one useful 
little instrument, not much larger than a hoe, a kind of earth-boring 
screw, with which you can dig to the depth of two or three feet 
in as many minutes. There were a few minerals, and some very 
pure-looking gold, found about sixty miles from hence ; but unfor- 
tunately these things were placed so much in the dark, that it 
was difficult to see them. An address was presented to the 
Governor-General, which, though unexpected on his part, he 
replied to, in a speech made with great promptness and facility. 
An early dinner, with champagne, was prepared by the committee 
for him and the gentlemen assembled. A farmer from London, 
Upper Canada, made a very purpose-like and fluent speech, and 
gave a general invitation to an agricultural show which is to take 
place in his town on the 26th instant. The sheep were scanty and 
poor at this exhibition. I did not much admire the pigs, though 
some were thought good ; but there was a fine show of Ayrshire 
cattle, and very good cart-horses ; no Durham cattle, which are 
not thought to suit this country ; but the London gentleman said 
they were popular in his part of the world. I was disappointed 
in the flower-tent ; what they had of flowers and fruits having 
been almost destroyed the night before last, when a storm of wind 
blew down the tent upon them. Rain kept ofi" during the show, 
but a wet evening followed. One amusing part of the scene was 
the difi"erent fire-brigades with their engines, competing for prizes, 
given according to the height to which they could eject the water. 
This part of the afi"air was very entertaining to a large majority 
of the crowd. A great number of people from various districts 
were present. 

I spent the afternoon at the house of a very pleasant kind 
family, and went to the House of Deputies before eight o'clock, 
hoping to hear the conclusion of an adjourned debate upon the 



A MALCONTENT. 75 

Address. I found the members engaged in conversation upon the 
motion of Mackenzie, the former rebel. He is a singularly wild- 
looking little man, with red hair, waspish and fractious in manner 
— one of that kind of people who would not sit down content 
under the government of an angel. He has evidently talent and 
energy, but he seems intent only upon picking holes in other 
men's coats. He spends the money of the colonists with great 
profusion, for one purpose — printing returns from which he hopes 
to cull something which may damage somebody. He moved last 
night for the returns of all names of individual shareholders in 
banks, raiboads, or companies of any description ! Some members 
opposed this, as wasteful of the public money, and useless to the 
public business ; only likely to minister to a prying, morbid curi- 
osity about the affairs of private persons, and to be the means of 
annoying individuals who might not like their investments to be 
made a topic of gossiping conversation. Mr. Mackenzie ended 
by adjourning his motion. Upon the order of the day for going 
on with the debate about the Address, Dr. Rolph got up and made 
what seemed to me a very pompous and unfounded attack upon 
the Governor-General for having, upon his own judgment, selected 
Sir A. M'Nab to form the new ministry. Dr. Rolph maintained 
that it was a breach of the Constitution for the Crown to send for 
any man to organize a new government without the advice of a 
minister ; that if the late Premier did not tender his advice on 
this occasion, it was his duty to have done so ; that if he did not 
tender his advice, it was the constitutional duty of the Governor- 
General to have taken that of this person, or that pereon (and 
here Dr. Rolph gave the names of several gentlemen, whom he 
seemed to consider more fit for the Premiership than Sir Allan), 
and he ended by saying, if none of these would do, ' You, Mr. 
Speaker, ought to have been sent for.' I thought all this very 
extraordinary, and contrary to the English modes of procedure ; 
and so it appeared did the assembly. I was surprised to hear 
afterwards that Dr. Rolph had been considered one of the most 
gifted, powerful, and dangerous of demagogues, till the Governor- 
General, by trying him in office, showed how little talent he really 



76 QUEBEC. 

possessed. I did not get away till nearly midnight, and tlie 
House adjourned directly afterwards. 

Sepiember 15. — I liad intended to have crossed over to the 
opposite shore of the St. Lawrence, to see falls called the Chau- 
diere, but the weather looked gloomy and unfavourable, and 
having other things to do, I put olF that expedition : and this was 

fortunate, as I should have otherwise missed Mr. F , whose 

energetic devotion to the cause of the emigrants from England 
made me desirous to know him : he came out a steerage passenger 
in the Cleopatra — a sacrifice of comfort he has before made, with 
a view of ascertaining practically the treatment of emigrants. He 
is again going west, for information which may assist the cause he 
has espoused ; and if I had not been so fortunate as to see him 
this morning, he would have left Quebec. I drove in with Lord 

B and Mr. F to the Government Office, and introduced 

the latter to Mr. , who gave him an invitation from Lord 

Elgin to dine at Spencer Wood. The afternoon turned out very 
fine, and I had a delightful botanical excursion across the river to 
Point Levi : upon rocks, and along the edge of the water, I found 
one of the only two Primulas of America, the rare Hedysarum 
boreale, Primula Mistassinica, Lobelia Kalmii, Grentiana saponaria, 
&c., &c., all beautiful plants and quite new to me. This locality 
was pointed out to me by Mr. Shephard, the enthusiastic and 
intelligent Scotch seedsman of Montreal. Without a hint I 
should never have found the Primula, as it is, of course, not in 
fiower now. I made two sketches — one of Quebec, which looks 
well from this place, and another of the island of Orleans, with 
Cape Tourmente and the mountains behind the Falls of Mont- 
morenci ; these can only be seen fom the opposite side of the 
river. Point Levi is a rambling Canadian village, where the 
inhabitants are all Roman Catholics and speak little English. 
The place looks untidy and backward in civilization. The con- 
trast is great between Point Levi and hamlets in the United 
States : everything looks new and hasty there, but all is at the 
same time neat, and significant of present and future prosperity. 
I found an odd-looking conglomerate rock along part of the road 



CURIOUS METEOrac LIGHT. 77 

here. A clumsy dirty little steamer performs the part of ferry- 
boat between the opposite shores ; it is the worst thing of the 
kind I have seen this side the Atlantic. 

September 17. — Yesterday an accident occurred, which might 
have been attended with more serious consequences : the horse of 
one of the gentlemen here fell, whilst cantering, and rolled upon 
him; but, with the exception of an injury to the shoulder, which 
obliged him to go into barrack, at Quebec, for medical treatment, 

no bad consequences ensued. I drove Mrs. M in Lord Elgin's 

phaeton into the town. We found the wind not quite so cold. In 
the evening there was a very large dinner-party, including the 
whole Legislative Council. A Scotch gentleman from Perth, one 
of the senators, acquainted with members of our family in former 
years, invited me to visit him at By town, on the Ottawa River, 
about one hundred and twenty miles from Montreal, and as I hear 
much of the beauty of that flood of water, I am going from hence 
on Thursday, taking advantage of the first day's opening of the 
new railroad, which will spare me another stupid night voyage 
down the St. Lawrence. I shall see a new country, too, and do 
the journey to Montreal in a shorter time, which makes it worth 
my while to give up Three Rivers and the Falls of the Herwan- 
lack, and also to leave this a day or two sooner than I intended, as 
the cars will not be available to the public in general till about 
a week later, and then this expedition will be only for directors, 
one of whom promises to take us. By the bye, there was a very 
curious meteoric light on September 13th, the night of the ball here, 
which attracted the notice of all those who came. It was, I sup- 
pose, a kind of Aurora borealis, a broad path of shining white light, 
extending east and west from each horizon : when I saw it, there 
was no flickering; it had the appearance of a beautifully defined 
straight-edged zone, bright as a moonlit cloud, and about as wide 
as the apparent distance between the two constellations Lyra and 
Aquila. It remained a long time visible, considerably more than 
an hour; but I am not sure of its exact duration. I never saw 
anything like it before, nor had any one else among all who saw 
it here. It was not like any Aurora borealis I have before seen, 



78 VISIT TO A SOUAW 

because it appeared so stationary, and its direction was not at all 
northwards. 

September 18. — Bishop Mountain preached yesterday; and af- 
ter church I went with Lord Elgin to visit a Canadian lady of great 
age. She remembers the Duke of Kent here, and Lord Dorches- 
ter, who was four times Governor- Greneral. She looked like one 
of the old Flemish pictures, with her thick black dress and sim- 
ple thick white cap, with grey locks escaping at intervals from 
beneath it ; very lively and energetic, though unable to leave her 
room. She was delighted with the gift of a bouquet from the Gov- 
ernor-General, in honor of her natal day. She spoke entirely in 
French ; expressed the most lively sentiments of loyalty towards 
the Queen ; and looks to me as if she may live to number one 
hundred years. Her countenance bore the stamp of cleverness 

and of great originality. Colonel I took me to inquire after 

Captain H , who is going on well ; and I then saw the fine 

strong citadel, from which there are splendid views of Quebec 

and the St. Lawrence. Colonel S embarks his regiment for 

England next week, and is so obliging as to take charge of a box 
of plants and ferns, which I hope may get there in life. Some of 
them, though indigenous here, I have never seen in our gardens, 
and being hardy, these will be valuable additions. I have found 
seeds of an Onobrychis, I think, of which it is probable speci- 
mens have not yet been seen in England. It is pretty enough to 
be a nice addition to our hardy plants, if I should be successful 
in introducing it. To-day we are going on an expedition to Lake 
St. Charles, about fifteen miles from Quebec. I am told it is well 
worth seeing. We left Spencer Wood before noon. The day 
turned out wet, but it was little more than drizzling rain ; and 
as there is a merry party of young people, no weather damps 
their enjoyment. I first saw the Falls of Lorette, and upon the 
rocks there found a beautiful and rare fern [Allosorus gracilis) : 

then, while the rest of the party preceded us, Mr. K was so 

obliging as to take me to visit a hamlet of civilized Indians, one 
of the Huron tribes. We missed seeing the chief, who was at his 
farm, but his squaw received us in her neat house, as comforta- 



VARIABLE WEATHER. 79 

Tbly furnished as any belonging to our best farmers. She told us 
her husband's mother was of French origin, but that she was pure 
Indian. Her age must be about seventy. She has decidedly the 
features of a squaw, but she is extremely intelligent, and speaks 
good Canadian French. This chief has only one son, but that son 
has six children. We bought little boxes, baskets, and pin-cush- 
ions, all made out of birch bark by Mrs. Paul and her husband ; 
some of them very prettily embroidered. 

The people of this village wear a kind of half Indian costume ; 
the men, generally, very bright scarlet caps. They are Roman 
Catholics ; and a woman showed us their little chapel, which pos- 
sesses a miraculous wooden Virgin, which was supposed to have 
escaped burning, when everything round it, in a former locality, 
was destroyed by fire. This place, better built, and more clean 
and orderly, than most European villages, at once sets at rest the 
question, whether Indians can be induced to give up a nomadic life. 
From Lorette to Lake St. Charles, the road was but indifi'ereut. 
At the house of a habitant farmer we found our pic-nic party as- 
sembled. There was an attempt to embark in canoes upon the 
lake, which was abandoned because it rained too heavily. The 
rest of the party returned for shelter, but I made a sketch from 
under an umbrella, and discovered two or three more plants — 
another pretty fern, at present quite unknown to me. Upon 
reaching the house, I found a merry round game going on. We 
then had an excellent dinner ; and afterwards, to avoid a bad road 
in the dark, we all got into the carriages, and returned as far as 
Lorette, where there is a small hotel : two fiddlers, both of Indian 
blood, played quadrilles and waltzes in excellent time ; ten or 
twelve couples were made up, and people were so well content with 
this amusement, that we did not get back to Quebec much before 
midnight. 

September 19. — Rain as heavy as that of the heaviest thun- 
der-storm in England, from six to nine ; and, when I set out to 
walk at noon, expecting a temperature cold as November, I found 
shawls and wraps quite in the way ; it was like a warm June 
morning ; such a rapid change I hardly ever remember, even in 



80 CANADIAN PENSIONERS. 

our changeable climate. I went to sketch a fine view of Quebec 
and the St. Lawrence, as far as Cape Tourmente, from the citadel : 
it was very windy, and even the shelter of one of the great guns 
was hardly enough to enable me to keep my paper from being 
blown away. Afterwards I drove to see a pretty place and nice 
garden belonging to Dr. Douglas, at Beaufort, near Quebec. Mrs- 
Douglas received me very kindly, but I was sorry to miss the 
doctor, who went yesterday to the Chaudiere. There is a very well 
conducted and comfortable-looking public lunatic asylum, in which 
Dr. Douglas takes great interest, adjoining his grounds, which are 
extensive, and laid out with great taste. I returned to dine with 
Mr. and Mrs. K— — at Quebec, intending to go to the Parlia- 
ment House to hear the Address discussed ; but as the debate 
appeared likely to linger on during the night, and we had a pleasant 
party and agreeable house, I remained all the evening where I 
was. 

September 20. — A stormy night, and the weather again bitterly 
cold. I went into Quebec upon hearing that the Assembly had 
sat all night, and were still discussing the amendment on the Ad- 
dress, which, after all, was only to substitute the word ' seculari- 
zation' for ' adjustment.' I was fortunate in getting to the House 
about half-past two o'clock, before the adjournment; so I was 
present at the finale, when there was a great majority for the 
Ministers, and it was agreed, without a division, that the address 
should be carried up to-morrow by the whole House, which should 
adjourn till four o'clock, Thursday. 

September 21. — Colonel TuUoch, the Government Commis- 
sioner for settling and looking after the military pensioners who 
have had grants of land in Canada, dined here. He has been 
very successful in improving their condition, and land is not — as 
it used to be — a misfortune, rather than a blessing, to the pension- 
ed soldier. This improvement is partly owing to Colonel TuUoch's 
plan of making the grant to consist of three or four acres instead 
of one hundred, as was formerly the case, when the occupant, un- 
fit to clear and bring into cultivation so large a portion, was ruined 
by it. Now, the smaller allotments ate cultivated garden fashion ; 



QUEBEC. 81 

and one individual made fifty pounds last year from his three 
acres, principally by growing vegetables for the Toronto market. 
In case of the death of an occupant, his widow is left in possession 
on condition that she re-marries with no one but a soldier ; and 
no widow has ever yet (Colonel Tulloch declares) remained two 
months without a husband. Such is the anxiety for a housewife, 
that men of fifty marry widows fifteen years older than themselves, 
rather than remain bachelors. What a chance for antiquated 
spinsters wishing to change their state ! 

Four of the gentlemen who dined here yesterday sang Negro 
and Canadian boat songs in the evening, all in good time and 
tune; they are very pretty airs. The 71st Regiment embarks for 
England on Saturday, much regretted here. I think this is the 
most variable climate I ever visited. Last night it was bitterly 
cold ; this morning the sun shines, and every thing again looks 
summerish, while yesterday, no wraps could enable me to stand for 
ten minutes at the citadel to finish my sketch ; but I am told this 
month is not usually so cold; there have been many icebergs seen 
lately near the coast, and that is supposed to be the reason of the 
unusual frigidity we feel here. I miss the fui-s which were left 
behind at Boston, supposed to be useless encumbrances at this time 
of year ; but it is to be hoped that, after my return to Montreal, 
I shall find myself again in a warmer climate. There is certainly 
more difference between the temperature of the two places than 
the distance would lead one to expect : here, the grass has been 
extremely verdant this summer, while at Montreal every blade 
was burnt up ; and I saw nothing green whatever, except the trees. 
I am afraid my hopes of going back by rail are illusory. Sir 
Cusack Rowney was here yesterday, and he seems to consider the 
line wholly impassable at present, and likely to remain so till the 
16th of next month ; so, instead of going by cars to-day, I must 
delay till Saturday, and then reconcile myself to the steam-boat 
passage down the St. Lawrence ; now, I shall not have time to 
stop at Three Rivers. 

September 22. — Yesterday I was present at the Roman Cath- 
olic Archbishop's palace, to see the assemblage of the clergy of 
4* 



82 LORD ELGIN. 

that persua,sion, for the layiog the first stone of a college. There 
were seven bishops, besides the archbishop, all benevolent-looking 
men. There does not seem to be much religious bigotry with that 
Church here — or at any rate it keeps out of sight — and the present 
Grovernor-General does all in his power to maintain peace and 
charity among the differing Churches. He made a most eloquent 
and facile speech in French, although wholly unprepared. He 
alluded to the vast progress in the material world ; to the marvels 
of electricity and of steam, by the agency of which the inhabitants 
of remote settlements are brought into connection, and railroads 
convey the luxuries of civilization to the backwoods of Canada 
and the solitary dwellings of the Far West. He then reminded 
the assemblage of differing Christians that the spiritual empire of 
religion and morality could only be made to keep pace with mate- 
rial progress throtigh the cordial union of Protestant and Cath- 
olic, in the great work of educating the young, and guiding the 
mature, by the lights of piety and truth. The observers and list- 
eners of each Church appeared interested and pleased, and I trust 
something was effected on this occasion towards allaying and ap- 
peasing their differences. I went to make my sketch from the 
citadel, and afterwards returned to the Government House, to get 
a peep through an open door of the ceremony of taking up an 
Address by the whole Canadian House of Commons. It was 
much the same as in England. The Koman Catholic bishops 
afterwards presented a loyal address to Lord Elgin. I drove 

Mrs. K to her father's house on the St. Foy road, and went 

to take leave of Mrs. Montazambert, in my way back to Spencer 
Wood. There was a party of twelve at dinner — several ladies. 
Septeniber 23. — Yesterday I went a long expedition with Col. 

I , to see the Falls of the Chaudiere. We crossed the ferry 

at Point Levi, and the drive of about ten miles on the other side 
of the St. Lawrence, nearly following the line of the new railway 
to Montreal, is very beautiful : the St. Lawrence on the right, 
streams and rivers occasionally flowing into it ; and rough cliffs, 
and woods, and hamlets, all along the left hand. The rocks in 
some places were shaded with soft grey, yellow, and brown ; and 



CANADIAN LADIES. 83 

all was pleasant but the road, which proved difficult, rough, and 
sometimes dangerous ; more than usually so (I was told,) owing to 
the railroad operations ; but the old French Canadian, and his 
little black horse, which drew our caUche, did not seem at all put 
out, by what in England would have been thought impracticable, 
even though the way was evidently not well known to him, and 
he took us three or four miles above the Falls to a railroad bridge 
over the Chaudiere, so that we were obliged to retrace our steps ; 
and this, with the intricacy of the place itself, when we got there, 
wasted some time. The body of water which comes down is more 
considerable than that of Montmorenci, and the spray was too 
wetting for us to do more than take a glimpse of the Fall from 
above. I believe we ought to have been on the other side, but 
there was not time to remedy this mistake, and the view we did 
get was fine. We scrambled through a thick forest, and came 
out, through bog and brake, some way from the place where we 

had left the carriage ; so Col. I walked back for it, and I 

went on to get a sketch of the Chaudiere, where it joins the St. 
Lawrence. The sun was setting before we got to the shore, 
nearly opposite Spencer Wood, and if we had again taken the 
roundabout way, by Point Levi, we might have missed the last 
ferry, besides incurring the chance of breaking down before get- 
ting there ; but we were fortunate in finding a hospitable lumber 
merchant and his wife, who welcomed us to their warm and com- 
fortable fire-side, and sent us at once across the river in their 
little boat. We landed at a wharf, about two miles from Spencer 
House, and got home before eight o'clock, so that I had time to 
get some dinner and rest, before dressing for a ball, given by Lord 
Elgin, as a farewell to the officers of the departing 71st Kegiment, 
which is to embark to-morrow for England (Sept. 23d). The 
dance was very lively and brilliant, and was kept up till past 
three o'clock this morning. The Canadian ladies certainly 
amuse themselves more easily and pleasantly than we do ; they 
are more like the French, in their enjoyment of passing moments, 
and are generally pretty, natural, and well dressed ; so that I 
have found their acquaintance agreeable. The Governor-General 



84 QUEBEC. 

went in state to-day, to give liis assent to the Reciprocity Bill , 
and that glorious measure is now all settled, happily for both 
countries. There was a very large dinner-party here, almost 
entirely composed of Deputies and their Speaker; and we all 
went to bed considerably tired with the fatigues of the last week. 
I had intended to have departed by this afternoon's steamer for 
Montreal, but since that arrangement was made, Lord Elgin has 
decided upon going himself to Upper Canada, on Monday, and the 
railroad Directors have therefore made a great exertion for the 
purpose of conveying him along the new line, so I shall benefit 
by being of his party as far as Montreal ; and thus, after all, es- 
cape that odious night voyage down the river ; besides which, I 
shall have an agreeable drive through a beautiful country by 
daylight, and do the journey in eight hours instead of twelve. 
I will write again from the next place, which will probably be 

Major C -'s, St. Heliers, near Montreal. No letters for me 

again I This is very disappointing. 

Your affectionate, 

A. M. M. 

I shall get no letters now for three weeks, as my tour in Up- 
per Canada will take at least that time ; and anything which 
comes here must be forwarded to Albany, care of the Governor 
of New York. 



LETTEE IX. 



MONTEEAL. 



MoNTEEAL, September 27. 

My dear Friends, — 

By seven o'clock yesterday morning, Lord Elgin and his 
suite were ready for embarkation in a rowing boat wliich was to 
cross tbe St. Lawrence from the Cove beneath Spencer Wood. 
The weather proved favourable, less cold, and, though rather 
damp, not rainy. Quebec looked fine in the misty atmosphere, 
the citadel looming above it, and much shipping upon the river 
below. I felt sorry to leave that beautiful place, but we had an 

agreeable passage across ; and a little boy, the son of Mr. K , 

only ten years old, sang Canadian boat songs with great spirit. 
On the opposite shore we found Sir Cusack and Lady Rowney, 
and the chief conductors and engineers of the Great Trunk Rail- 
road, waiting with a car. They gave us a plentiful lunch on our 
way to Richmond, where we joined the original line. That place 
and Melbourne are on each side of the St. i^rancis River, both 
prettily situated. This single line from Quebec is in so unfin- 
ished a state, that as yet there are no fences, and it required some 
skill and caution to avoid smashing the cattle which had strayed 
upon the way. We were often suddenly brought-up for this 
reason ; and once the coupling of the engine broke, from the un- 
settled state of the trams, and we saw the machine running 
off from us without its foUowings ; however, no harm ensued, we 



86 VICTORIA BRIDGE. 

caught our horse again, and it went on so rapidly as to complete 
our journey in about seven hours. Opposite Montreal we found 
the Beaver^ a powerful steam-vessel belonging to the company, 
awaiting Lord Elgin's arrival. She took us up (in spite of the 
stream running like a mill race) to the site of the works for the 
stupendous tubular bridge which is in progress. The Governor- 
General laid a first stone for the second pier, in the bed of the 
St. Lawrence. We were then rowed across a rapid to the first, 
which is already a mass of most beautiful solid masonry, strong 
enough to resist even the winter ice and floods of this gigantic 
river. A trowel was given to me, and I was invited to put in 
the mortar for a corner-stone of twelve tons weight, which we 
then saw lowered into its place ; to remain, as far as human eyes 
can judge, as long as the world lasts. The material used is a 
hard black-looking limestone (and I heard of organic remains be- 
ing sparingly dispersed in it) — probably Silurian. After much 
cheering for the Queen and the Governor-General, and the future 
Victoria Bridge, we steamed up the river again, and landed Lord 
Elgin at the Lake Champlain railroad station, Albany, being his 
best route for London, Upper Canada, where he goes to attend 
an agricultural meeting. My Canadian acquaintance, Mr. 

K , brought me here to his sister's house, which I find a 

pretty villa, rather out of the town, with an extensive garden 
overlooking Montreal and the St. Lawrence. 

Septeraher 28. — I went yesterday to seek out all my baggage, 
which came up by the steamer, as it could not readily be carried 

over chasms in the railway. After visiting Lady K , and 

the intelligent seedsman Shepherd, at whose house I saw some 
very good drawings executed by his daughter (both flowers and 

figures), I returned to Mrs. J 's^ and after lunch she and Mr. 

J , with the other gentlemen, took me a drive to see the 

cemetery, which is being established upon a finely-wooded hill, 
about three miles from Montreal. We drove back by the light 
of a brilliant young moon, which promises well for my three 
weeks' tour in Upper Canada. This morning I spent in the town 
of Montreal, making some arrangements, and re-packing my 



ST. HILAIRE. 87 

baggage, so as to forward every thing whicli I do not require for 
Upper Canada, to await my arrival at Albany. At three o'clock, 

Mr. J took me to the Ferry Wharf, where we found Major 

C , whose place I had engaged to visit. After crossing the 

river, we had about twenty-five miles of railroad to his newly- 
built house, St. Hilaire, on the Kichelieu, — a river as wide as 
the Thames at Battersea. A sweeping curve brought us up to 
the station, after going over a bridge. We had passed by the 
farms and holdings of habitants attached to another seigneurie, 

before reaching that of Major C ; but all these small farms 

are monotonous, bare-looking strips of land, without a twig of 
shelter upon them. The forests have been mercilessly extirpated, 
and these people have left themselves denuded of wood, and with 
land worn out by their short-sighted policy of squeezing all they 
can out of it, and giving nothing in return. This valley was 

once rich and productive. The good example of Major C , 

and the advantages of the railroad, may in time induce these in- 
offensive but ignorant people to cultivate instead of racking their 
land ; at present, I should hardly have supposed they could draw 
from it even a scanty subsistence. These seigneuries are of great 
extent in square acres ; but the ground having been let on from 
father to son, at a rent almost nominal (about twopence an acre), 
any arrangement that will change a system so antiquated as their 
manner of farming, must be a good one for both landlord and 
tenant. Some kind of adjustment like that which was recom- 
mended in the speech of the Governor-G-eneral, will probably be 

made by the Legislature this session. Major C has built a 

pretty Elizabethan house, which it is to be hoped will serve as a 
model for an improved style of architecture in this land of ugly 
edifices ; it is backed by the fine river Eichelieu, and about three 
miles in front are the well wooded and picturesque mountains of 
Belleisle, which belong to his seigneurie ; they stand alone, in the 
flat district. There is the Mount of St. John, probably of 
volcanic origin, but looking like a peaked barrow, about seven 
miles' distance; but otherwise the country is level as far as 
Montreal : and from the summit of Major C 's hill the 



88 A PRETTY EDIFICE. 

view is most extensive on every side, embracing four rivers and 
four lakes — the St. Lawrence, Ottawa, Richelieu, and Yamasee 
rivers; Lake Champlain, that of the Two Mountains, Lake 
Richelieu, and Lake Chambly. 

September 29. — Major and Mrs. C took me after break- 
fast to walk about the mountain, and to see the hotel he is build- 
ing, in a very pretty situation, upon the lower part of it. I found 
some interesting plants, and made sketches — one of a small lake 
in the bosom of the mountain, which is believed to fill up an ex- 
tinct crater. Basaltic and other igneous rocks scattered about, 
are evidences of the nature of these hills ; and one feels grateful 
to an outbreak which has so beautified the landscape. Excellent 
apples grow in the numerous orchards at the base of Belleisle, 
and here the people make a good deal of cider, besides manufac- 
turing maple sugar in quantities during the month of April. I 
saw no flowers about the plank-houses, and their absence throws 
an air of desolation over the hamlets ; but it must be remembered 
that their inhabitants have a winter so long and tedious, that 
during the short summer the time of the men, and of the women 
also, is so occupied by necessary agricultural and domestic labours, 
that they have none to bestow upon floriculture. Driving home 
I saw many little wooden troughs under the trees in the forest ; 
I thought at first that they were for pigs to feed from, but they 
are receptacles for the maple sugar. Young trees produce the 
whitest and purest syrup ; and a frosty night, followed by a bright 
sunshiny day, is the only weather which induces a good flow of 
sap. I do not see why we could not make maple sugar in Eng- 
land, unless it is that the sun is not sufficiently powerful during 
our spring. I saw a large closet at St. Hilaire, filled witR cakes 
of varying purity ; they looked very like a coarse brown soap. 

In the house. Major C has his office for the seigneurie — 

resembling the magistrate's room of an English country gentle* 

man ; and Mrs. C has her room for the reception of the poor 

who are sick or sorry, where she afi"ords them aid and advice. 
She is much beloved among them, but never gives money. This 
place will be very pretty when finished, and as complete and 



SILVER HEIGHTS. 09 

comfortable as the residence of an English Squire. It is brick, 
with stone ornaments ; and the interior is fitted np with carved 
oak, appropriate to the Gothic style of the building. After 
spending a pleasant day, I took the cars at three o'clock, and re- 
turned to my friend's house at Montreal by eight in the evening. 

September 30. — Silver Heights^ Banks of the Ottawa. — I 
left Montreal to embark in a steamer at La Chine, whither we 
went by the railroad — a beautiful drive. I was surprised to find 
the Ottawa another lake-like river, extending in both directions, 
and looking as if the banks of the St. Lawrence could never con- 
tain its waters, while there is much greater beauty and variety on 
its own shores. The first part of our voyage of thirty miles was 
a splendid one : we reached Carillon about three o'clock ; there I 

found a note from Mr. and Mrs. F : and Captain W , 

with his two daughters, drove me to this place. It is now 
twenty -five years since he became a settler. At that tune the 
undertaking of building and clearing must have been a fearful 
one ; but they have now a fine farm and an enjoyable home, to 
which steam and electricity already add the comforts of society, 
and afford a rapid communication with the world ; but when 
Captain and Mrs. W., as a young couple, sat down in the bush, 
what a store of patience and energy must have been required to 
endure and to conquer the difficulties of their situation ! As we 
proceeded, there were some Indian villages at intervals on the 
river banks : priests landed occasionally from our boat ; and once 
I saw two comfortably clothed squaws, with long cloaks, and 
baskets of wood at their backs, get into a canoe at the edge of the 
water; but wigwams and tomahawks seem almost out of date 
hereabouts. 

October 1. — We left Silver Heights yesterday; Captain 

W kindly drove me in his wagon to Grenville, that I might 

be spared ten miles of a rough coach ; for the rapids here prevent 
any navigation of the river between Grenville and Carillon. As 
we were rather too soon for embarkation, I walked on the banks 
of the Ottawa, and picked up some curious-looking fossils out of 
the clay slate. It was about five o'clock when the boat reached 



90 LA PETITE NATION. 

Petite Nation. A finely-wooded shore extended all tlie way, but 
no striking features in the landscape. As we disembarked from 
the steamer, I saw a squaw with her papoose wrapped in her 
blanket. She did not seem to comprehend a word of French or 
English, and soon paddled away in a canoe with her husband, 
who was dressed like the other peasants, and I should hardly have 
recognized him as an Indian. People speak of the ' extermina- 
tion ' of the savages ; but I should rather say that the race is 
being amalgamated and absorbed in that of civilized men. It is 
said here that the priests rule the Roman Catholic Indians with 
a rod of iron ; that they do not permit them to accumulate prop- 
erty, but that the Church keeps a hold over their means ; and 
that, in consequence of the despotic rule of ecclesiastics at Claire 
Point (an Indian settlement we passed yesterday), the people are 
fast emigrating to Bytown ; but still it appears to me that 
Roman Catholicism is best adapted for civilizing the Indians. 
The latter place derives its name from a Captain By, who was 
the Grovernment Superintendent of the Rideau Canal, which ex- 
tends from this part of the country to Kingston. The city is in 
future to be called Ottawa. M. Papineau received me very 
kindly at Petite Nation. It is not more than five or six years 
since he was his own architect, and built the pretty stone house 
he now inhabits with his family, after he gave up political life. 
This has been a wet day ; but I am fortunate in being detained 
in a place where I can benefit by the conversation of an agreeable 
and well-informed host. Speaking about the proposed arrange- 
ment of the seigneuries, M. Papineau fears that the preponder- 
ance of Upper Canada in the Legislature may lead to an un- 
just solution of that question. It is proposed to make the 
seigneurs sell their reserved lands, he says. Where a man has 
purchased a seigneurie at a price which has never been remu- 
nerative, expecting one day to make a fair interest for his money, 
it would be injustice to enforce a sale, just as the approach of 
civilization is giving value to the purchase ; but even if the 
Canadian representatives are regardless of the rights of indi- 
viduals, I cannot believe that any English Governor-General, 



THE MASSACRE. 91 

mucli less the present one, would give his sanction to any act 
of spoliation. 

Ocioher 2. — A very pleasing and intelligent young cure drank 
tea here last night. He told me that there is an Indian encamp- 
ment squatted down on the other side of the river, and I shall 
hope to go and see it. 

After breakfast, Monsieur Papineau took R and me 

across the river to visit the Indians and their wigwams, so it 
seems they are not quite extirpated from this part of the coun- 
try. These people belong to the tribe of AUoconquins, once so 
powerful along the shores of the Ottawa. They were designated 
as the ' great nation^'' and were generally fierce and warlike ; but 
upon the ground now occupied by the seigneurie of M. Papineau, 
the French, upon their first visit, found a peaceable and gentle 
settlement of natives, whom they designated as ' La Petite Na- 
tion ; ' hence, the present name of the place. With these inof- 
fensive savages the strangers fraternized, and in consequence, 
their fiercer brethren of the Indians raised the war-whoop, poured 
down in numbers, and with fire and tomahawk destroyed the 
Petite Nation, and murdered nearly all their white guests. Upon 
this occurrence, the French Grovernment gave up any attempt to 
settle on these shores, and refused permission to individuals to do 
so. It was not till after the English conquest of Canada that 
the Ottawa river became by degrees the residence of Europeans. 
There were only a few wigwams at the place where we landed ; 
we spoke to an old woman and her two daughters, who were 
making boxes of birch bark ; and to a young and rather pretty 
squaw, with her baby and her husband, who was busy preparing 
the skin of an elk for mocassins. They all spoke French a little ; 
and being acquainted with M. Papineau, they did not shun con- 
versation. The woman was the same who, when I spoke to her 
on the other side of the river, shook her head, and pretended not 
to understand me ; and this, it seems, is a common habit if they 
are addressed by strangers. All the Indians I have yet seen are 
warmly and comfortably clad ; a blanket or dark cloak being 
their outer covering, and they have good strong shoes and stock- 



92 NATURAL HISTORY. 

ings. M. Papineau says, the accusations I heard made against 
the priests at Point Clare are unjust ; that they only use their 
influence to prevent the savages from destroying themselves by 
' Firewater ; ' and that the evil inclined complain bitterly of this 
check, and go off elsewhere to indulge those drinking propensities 
which will be the ultimate ruin of the race. After seeing the en- 
campment, we landed on the small island of Vagit ; there I found 
interesting plants and river shells, and made a sketch of M. Papi- 
neau's pretty Scotch-looking house, with its two towers and high 
roof. The wind freshened, so that we were soon obliged to has- 
ten to the shore again, and returned in time for the two o'clock 
family dinner ; after which. Monsieur and Madame Papineau, 
with the lady's sister and sister-in-law, took me to see a very 
handsome and well-built family chapel, and mausoleum, in the 
grounds. The style is solid simple Gothic, with a low belfry, 
like the Welsh churches. The interior has a beautiful roof, flying 
timbers ; and one or two stained glass windows, over the door 
and over the altar, give all the light that is admitted. Each side 
is filled up by large plain black slabs of marble, upon one of 
which will one day be inscribed the names of those who then stood 
around me. I liked this little burying-place better than any- 
thing of the kind I have before seen. 

October 3. — A very wet day, the wind blowing and the rain 
raining. When it does rain on this side of the Atlantic, the 
down-pour is more continued and violent than with us ; but then 
there are very seldom three wet days in succession. 

October 4. — After breakfast this morning, Madame Papineau 
took me to walk in the forest, which, like that behind Mr. Loring's 
house near Beverley, is interspersed with fine rocks of sienite. It 
is now rather too late for wild flowers in this part of the country; 
but I found some beautiful ferns, and the first snake I have seen 
in America glided away from our path ; it was long and slender, 
black, marked with vivid green, and it was not disagreeably near 
to us. Pretty little ground squirrels ran about among the rocks ; 
they are less agile than ours, and want the bushy tail, but they 
are beautifully striped ; I also saw a black-and-white species of 



THE OTTAWA RIVER. 93 

woodpecker, and a partridge, thougli birds are generally scarce. 
The afternoon proved very wet, but M. Papineau kindly accom- 
panied me to the little wharf, to wait for the steamer to Ottawa 
city. We sat for a considerable time in the parlour of the French 
Canadian auberge, as bad weather had made the vessel rather 
later than usual; and we were almost drenched, whilst only 
walking over the small wooden pier to the boat, where it was not 
without a feeling of regret that I took leave of my courteous 
host, who with his family had made me so kindly welcome to his 
forest-home. The evening soon closed in, and I was vexed to 
pass up another fine river in the dark. Monsieur Papineau had 

speeded my departure in the rain, and Mr. M came with 

his carriage to meet me under the same disagreeable circum- 
stances. 

Wednesday, October 5. — The moon was hid by clouds, and 
rain poured down as fast when we left the boat as when we got 
into it, almost wet through by having waited five minutes on the 
shore ; but the sun shines out this bright frosty morn. Having 
heard much of the scenery round Ottawa, I was at first disap- 
pointed at the bare look of the place itself; for, excepting a 
small tract of forest left near this house, the axe and saw have 
cleared away every tree around it ; and the buildings straggle on, 
nearly all the same in form, though of varying material and size ; 
some were built of wood, some of brick, and some of a coarse kind 
of granite, speckled by garnets. When the intermediate space 
shall be filled, (which is in a fair way of being accomplished, for 
buildings are rising up in all directions, and one very pretty 
Elizabethan house is erecting for a son-in-law of Mr. Mackay's, 
which will set the example of a more picturesque style of archi- 
tecture) — a large city will stand at the confluence of the rivers 
Ottawa, Gatineau, and Rideau. The present town will then 
change its former ugly name for that of the Ottawa, the largest of 
these three fine rivers ; on the banks of which it has sprinkled 
itself to the extent of about three miles, reaching to a handsome 
suspension bridge, which crosses the torrent very near the spot 
where it tumbles down a ledge of rocks packed over one another 



94 FALLS OF THE OTTAWA AND GATINEAU. 

in tabular masses. These falls are very grand, second only to 
Niagara. At one place the stream, after tumbling over, enters a 
large circular hole, and vanishes beneath in a whirlpool. Each 
side the river, slides of water have been formed, down which the 
rafts rush so furiously, that though the men upon them look 
perfectly cool and unconcerned, I should not much like to be in 
their company. What a turmoil of waters there must be at other 
times, since now that they are cfonsidered very low, the rush I see 
is so magnificent ! I suppose it is well to visit these falls before 
Niagara, but it is worth while to cross the Atlantic for these 
alone. About thirty years ago, the gentleman, at whose house I 
am now staying, was at these rapids late in the evening, with a 
lady now of my acquaintance, and upon her expressing a wish to 
stand upon a tabular rock which divides one of the larger falls 
from the caldron below, he carried her across upon a drift plank 
at the edge of the torrent. It was only by the same way that 

they could return ; and Mr. M allows that at the moment 

he repented his daring, for one inch on either side would have 
been fatal to both. However, the lady preserved her composure, 
and he his courage, and so they repassed in safety ; but he after- 
wards confessed to his wife, that he shuddered upon looking at 
the place by daylight — for it was by the light of the moon this 
feat was performed. Last year, a raft containing nine men was 
wrecked just above the falls. Thousands of spectators crowded 
the banks, and by means of ropes, the poor fellows were rescued ; 
but one was dragged so far through the torrent, that he was 
brought senseless to the shore. 

Friday^ Qth — This morning, one of the young Mr. M s 

drove me about eight miles up the shores of the Gatineau (in some 
places over a corduroy road, in which the holes were deep enough 
to have smashed an English carriage), to see some falls upon that 
river, which, if not finer than the Chaudiere or the Ottawa, are 
still more strikingly situated : a series of falls and rapids two miles 
in length, backed by hills of untrodden forest, and as yet unen- 
cumbered by saw-mills and water-slides, can be seen from the as- 
cent above. It is certainly the most beautiful view I have visited 



OFFICIOUS CARE. 95 

in this fine country. Tliere is also a lake near ; but time was 
wanting to reach the spot ; and I believe few people, except trap- 
pers and raftsmen, have as yet penetrated farther up this river. 
The post this day has brought us news of the successful landing 
of the army near Sebastopol. I may possibly hear no more till 
we get to Niagara. Montreal papers describe Lord Elgin's pro- 
gress through Upper Canada, where he seems to have been ex- 
tremely well received ; met by loyal addresses at every place, and 
answering them by impromptu political, social, and agricultural 
speeches, which read as well as if they had been carefully pre- 
pared. I have waited long here, vainly hoping to be overtaken by a 
missing trunk, in which are all my books, paper for plants, and 
other things of every day requirement: it was left behind at 
Montreal, entirely owing to the intended care which every body 
evinces for our interests, so that we find it the most difficult 
matter possible to take care of ourselves. Parcels are taken from 
our hands, boxes carried off or retained, baskets and tin cases put 
aside, and we never know whether the luggage is right or wrong, 
either in the United States or in Canada, because every gentleman 
takes it into his charge. American ladies are so accustomed to 
be watched and waited upon, that an independent Englishwoman 
is quite in despair at being treated as if she could not take care of 
her own concerns. I never mislaid and lost so many things in the 
travels of my whole life, as have been dropped or left behind 

since K and I landed on this side the Atlantic. We never 

know when our baggage is accompanying us, or when it is lagging 
behind ; but usually every thing turns up again in due time. We 
must leave this place at seven o'clock to-morrow, by the Eideau 
Canal for Prescott, or we may not be able to proceed before the 
middle of the week ; and though I give up seeing Lake Huron, ten 
days will be required to go by Belville, Coburg, Toronto, and 
Hamilton, before we shall reach Niagara. The season is now 
getting late, and I much fear the great beauty of the foliage will 
have passed before I reach the falls. Some trees have already 
lost their leaves — a change which has occurred rather earlier than 
usual, owing to the storms of the first few days of this month 



96 A FIELD FOR ENTERPRISE. 

Opposite the window at which I am writing, I now see crimson 
maples, orange birch, and scarlet oaks, interspersed with dark furs 
and bright green beech, and silver stems glistening here and there, 
making this corner of a primeval forest in itself a picture. Some 
of the charred black stumps, too, are always to be seen here and 
there standing up ; at times they look like black points, or like 
gigantic figures among the trees. I sympathize now more than 
ever with poor Mrs. Moodie. ' Life in the bush' must indeed be 
a hard life for any civilized woman to go through. With all the 
aid that capital and strong arms can give, clearing is slow work, 
and one sees land that has been years in cultivation, still covered 
over at intervals by great black stumps, which look as if they 
might yet keep possession of the ground for the next twenty years. 
It is impossible to grub them up without such an outlay of time 
and trouble as is out of the question ; and they have already been 
charred and girdled till their durability has been the more con- 
firmed ; so between rocks, and bogs, and timber, it takes a weary 
time before the poor settlers can grow more than a sprinkling of 
potatoes ; and I am now fully convinced of the wisdom of Colonel 
Tulloch's plan, of giving only very small portions of land to pen- 
sioners, that an old soldier may be prevented from attempting a 
hopeless amount of exertion, which wastes his strength without 
repaying him in food. Still this country is a fine field for capital 
and talent. Young engineers make their fortunes rapidly. The 
overlooker of a mill receives one pound a day ; a good foreman 
or clerk five or six hundred pounds per annum ; and any tolerable 
workman may earn his dollar or two each day — more than some 
of our naval or military officers receive. With a small capital 
and a good recommendation, any active young man must prosper 
in Canada ; but industry and temperance are just as necessary 
here as elsewhere ; and those who fancy they may make money 
without earning it are worse off in America than in England. 

Sunday Nighty October 28 — Otiaiva. — I went to an Episco- 
pal church here this morning; there was a large congregation. 
The service very respectably conducted; a small barrel organ 
accompanied voices in good tune. Protestants and Koman Cath- 



OTTAWA. 97 

olics are about equal in numbers here, and there are chapels of 
various denominations. One or two convents of Grey Nuns, and 
some Jesuits, have made this place their head-quarters. It is a 
healthy situation, and no cholera has made its appearance, though 
it has prevailed much at Montreal. Hull, on the other side the 
suspension bridge, was settled before Bytown ; it will eventually 
be a mere suburb belonging to Ottawa city. The population 
here is a mixture of Scotch, Irish, French Canadians, and Upper 
Canadians, with a few Germans and Americans. Bytown is in 
Upper Canada — Hull, in lower; so the Ottawa divides the two 
provinces. I will leave this letter to go from hence, as we start 
by the early steamboat to-morrow for Prescott, and this is proba- 
bly the best locality from which to ensure the transmission of a 
packet for England — so I close in haste. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 

Ottawa City, on the Ottawa, Upper Canada, 
October 8, 1854. 



^^mm^mm^mmm^mm^m^m 



mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 



LETTEE X. 



LAKE ONTARIO 



OoBOTTKO, Lake Ontario, ) 
Ocioljer 12, 1854. f 

My dear Friends, — 

I write now from another hospitable villa, on the borders of 
this inland sea. I heard the sound of waves on the shore last night, 
as on a calm summer evening at Brighton. There has not been 
one minute in which I could put pen to paper since we left By- 
town, now Ottawa city. During this journey I have come to the 
conclusion, that there is no dependence to be placed upon the 
hours or the distances named to a traveller in Canada or the 
United States ; you may be informed as to the usual hour for the 
departure of a steamer, and yet she sets forth half an hour before, 
or she may arrive at a point whence to start again at five minutes' 
warning, two hours after she was expected. When we embarked 

(with all Mr. M 's experience) we reached the Eideau Canal 

ten minutes too late for the vessel, which went off sooner than was 
expected ; but as there were four locks to be passed here (thirty- 
seven ultimately) we drove off to catch her at some convenient 
point, but at the distance of two miles she came up to us, having 
already been left behind. The only misfortune was, that as she 
could not come close to the shore, we had to reach her by means 
of a raft, which happened to be moored at the edge of the water ; 
both B — — and I got soused over our ankles. We were all day 



AUTUMN FOREST TINTS. 99 

in wet tilings, the stove not being powerful enough to dry us. 
However, the excitement and interest of travelling are so condu- 
cive to health, that we caught no cold, though, in addition to wet 
feet, we had a rainy afternoon, and the vessel was so small and 
close, that I preferred staying on deck under an umbrella to the 
shelter of a crowded cabin. It was consoling that the edges of 
the canal afforded some picturesque views. We passed one fall, 
and when we got into the wide calm stream of the river itself, its 
banks .were interesting. Here I first saw true swamps — wastes of 
water, with occasional cedars, stumps, and reeds ; blasted or sickly- 
looking trees and shrubs appearing at intervals above the surface. 
To my surprise, among the submerged vegetation I saw now and 
then log-cabins, with the heads of women and children peeping out 
of the doors or windows — not Indians, but Europeans. What 
beings can they be who choose to inhabit such places in a country 
where there is certainly no lack of dry locations ! These spots 
looked like the personifications of ague and yellow fever; but 
sometimes the banks of the Rideau are embellished (like all 
American rivers at this season of the year) with thickets of scarlet 
and gold, each beautiful form and shape dressed in the most gor- 
geous colours possible to imagine. I suppose it is the hotter sun 
and sudden night frosts which tint the foliage with hues of a 
brilliancy unknov/n to us, though I suspect we have not exactly 
the same trees, with the exception of a few in our gardens. The 
sugar maple, the soft ma|)le, and the scarlet and white oak, are 
the chief pigments for coloring American forests. I should like, 
as an experiment, to plant enough of these together in England 
to see if they would dress themselves as becomingly on our side 
of the Atlantic : the Virginian creeper does so ; and then we could 
shade them with copper beech, which would make the picture still 
more beautiful. 

The Prince Albert steamer is little worthy of its royal detsig- 
nation, for it is the smallest and dirtiest vessel I have seen in 
Canada, excepting, perhaps, that wretched ferry-boat at Point Levi ; 
but the railroads are superseding canals, and already there is not 
traffic enough to pay any company for good accommodation. I 



100 ^RIDEAU CANAL. 

found on board an agreeable lady from Norfolk, who has settled 
with a brother in this country near Ottawa. She regrets I did 
not visit the pretty place of her relative, about six miles above tiie 
Falls at the suspension bridge. This lady had an excellent Eng- 
lish maid, who was made so happy by meeting with mine, that as 
mistresses and maids suited equally well, we agreed to fall in with 
each other (if possible) again at Hamilton, in order to visit Nia- 
gara together. I disembarked at Brookville, with a host of Ger- 
man emigrants, all of whom being unable to speak either English 
or French, they were under the guidance of a conductor", who 
appeared careful of his charge. But there were not carts or car- 
riages enough to convey these poor people, with their great boxes 
and their bedding ; and when we got to the railroad-station at 
Kemp Town, three miles' distance, the train was delayed more 
than two hours, until the emigrant party could be brought up ; so 
instead of our reaching Prescott early enough to cross over to the 
hotel at Ogdensburg, on the American side the St. Lawrence, be- 
fore sunset, the ferry-boat did not put us and our baggage on 
shore till dark. Not a carriage or a cart was to be seen upon the 
landing-place, and we thought ourselves in a desperate fix. How- 
ever, a good-natured woman, who had also crossed over, and who 

was acquainted with the locality, set oif with K , while I 

stayed in charge of the baggage. They returned with an old 
Irishman, driving his small cart. He was very civil, and succeeded 
in guiding our little party across a rotten plank bridge, and then 
took us safely through the dark and rather difficult streets to a com- 
fortable hotel. Canada, and this bank of the St. Lawrence, will now 
advance rapidly under happier circumstances ; but hitherto it has 
evidently been kept back and misgoverned, materially as well as 
morally ; and in consequence, everything on each side the water 
is twenty years behind other American shores — hotels, convey- 
ances, cultivation, habits. During our detention in the railway 
cars at Kemp Town, I listened with interest to a long political 
conversation among some Upper Canadian gentlemen. They spoke 
of Lord Elgin's late visit to this part of the country, and they 
said that it was a well-merited triumphal progress, for in their 



SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 101 

opinion, he had proved himself the most honest and able Governor 
that had ever ruled them ; and that his giving up the reins must 
he a matter of regret to all reasonable Canadians. But (they re- 
marked) he has so ordered the Government that it must now be our 
own fault if evils are not rectified, and if our country is otherwise 
than prosperous ; for we have now a truly free and constitutional 
executive, whilst till within these last ten years our freedom has 
been a fiction. Only time and patience are now required, that 
we may learn how to use our power of self-government to the 
best advantage. They spoke of the probability that the seat of 
government would eventually be fixed either at Ottawa or 
Toronto. 

There is a proposal now before the Legislature for erecting a 
Parliament house, and all buildings necessary for the executive, 
at the former place. But in spite of the rapidity with which 
everything is done in America, it must require many years to 
prepare the necessary accommodation at Ottawa, though t' e 
growth of Canada, and its central situation, may ultimately point 
to that place as the best capital of the countr};^. The city has 
several hills which would admit of strong fortifications. Three 
fine rivers afibrd the advantage of immense water power, and 
there are railroads in progress, which will be the means of rapid 
communication in every direction. It has good limestone, excel- 
lent clay for brick-making, and virgin forests, extending hundreds 
of miles towards Hudson's Bay, with an active and energetic 
population of about sixteen thousand, carrying on thriving wool- 
len manufactories, and gigantic saw-mills. The terminus of the 
Rideau Canal is surrounded by fine scenery : I can hardly imag- 
ine a place more likely to become the site of a great and thriving 
city. 

Neither Quebec, nor Montreal, nor Toronto, ofi'ers all these 
desiderata, though the latter place, in ten years, has increased its 
population ninety-five per cent. I can imagine a vast empire, 
embracing New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, having for its capi- 
tal ' Ottawa,' and with its ports upon the sea-coast and the St. 
Lawrence, becoming one day a power equal to the United States ; 



102 THE FUTURE OF CANADA. 

these two great nations, each encouraging a wholesome rivalry 
in the arts of peace and good government, content to be agreeable 
and hospitable neighbours, without envying or coveting each 
other's possessions, but setting an example to Europe of Anglo- 
Saxon perseverance and industry. This may be no more than a 
pleasant dream ; it may be that nations will never be convinced 
that there is a more noble game than that of cutting throats and 
robbing fellow-creatures. Still, I have better hopes from civili- 
zation and progress ; those who live twenty years longer, will, 
perhaps, be convinced such hopes are not fallacious ; in the 
meanwhile there is no harm in hoping the best. I might have 
written this in no very good humour with, things as they are, for 
our journey to Cobourg was the least agreeable of any journey 
I have yet made on this side the Atlantic. 

Being told we must be ready to meet the Lord Elgin steamer 
at Prescott, by seven o'clock, Wednesday morning, we crossed 
over exactly at that hour ; but it was half-past nine before the 
boat arrived, so for more than two hours we had to stand waiting 
on the wharf; luckily the sun shone, and it vras not very cold. 
When the steamer took us on board we passed successfully through 
the Thousand Islands, and beautiful they are : of every possible 
form, and in size from an acre to several miles, they lie glowing 
and gleaming upon the blue waters, making the most singular 
labyrinth in the world. Of course we could not see the half of 
them. Arrived at Kingston, we changed our steamer for that 
called the Bay of Quinte. Upon one of the smallest islands a 
solitary man has resided in a tiny cabin for years ; he seldom 
looks at, or is seen by, the passing vessels. He raises no flowers ; 
apparently he has not even a potato ground in cultivation. What 
can he do ? I saw nothing like a canoe ; and it does not seem 
that he even visits the opposite shores. A fine moonlit evening 
Bucceeded our brilliant morning ; about eleven o'clock at niglit 
we hove-to to take in wood from an island of considerable extent, 
belonging to Lord Mount-Cashel, which, I was informed, is in 
the market : it is extremely fertile, and has a village with a church 



PRIMITIVE LOCOMOTION. lOS 

belonging to it.* By midnight we reached Belville — another 
dreary Canadian town, where, if it had not been for the captain's 
assistance, we should have again been without a vehicle ; he was 
so obliging as to get a small waggon of his own, with a quiet 
horse, which I was able to drive ; and thus we reached a small 
hotel, from whence we were told a good coach would start at four 
o'clock in the morning for Cobourg ; but no beds were to be had ; 
we got a sitting-room with only a hard sofa, and a few harder 
chairs, so I was not unwilling to start at the appointed hour. 
Till near three the house was in an uproar with the noise made 
by smoking and drinking customers ; it was six before the coach 
(which turned out the roughest covered waggon I ever travelled 
in) came to the door ; and then, without any breakfast, except a 
cup of miserable tea and a few biscuits, procured at a stopping 
place by the way, we were jumbled over very bad roads, forty- 
five instead of thirty-five miles to Cobourg,! glad to turn out of 
our uncomfortable vehicle about five o'clock. We found some 
difficulty in procuring beds at the hotels, owing to an agricultural 
meeting that day, and a steeple-chase which was ridden yesterday; 
but I had letters which procured us the hospitable reception I 
have found in this house ; and a delightful expedition to the 
Rice Lake yesterday; which was a compensation for the un- 
pleasant journey from Belville. Mrs. H kindly took a drive 

of fourteen miles, to show me that charming lake village, which 
has only been settled about eight years. A half-pay colonel was 
the first who bought part of the Bice Lake shore, where we 
visited him. Another pleasing family soon became his neighbours, 
and now there is a thriving village, with its hotel and church, in 
the most beautiful situation possible. This lake may be about aj 
large as, or larger than, "^Yindermere. Indians still live upon its 
shores ; one of their villa^^cs is nearly opposite, and a fine bridge 
for the Peterborough railway extends three miles over the middle 

* Here we Lad entered in the Lay of Quinte, so called from a Frencliman 
who jSrst navigated it. 

t About twenty miles on the Belville side of Cobourg we first saw Lake 
Ontario, and almost coasted it to the latter place. 



104 RICE LAKE. 

of the lake. We crossed the Trent River, which flows from it, 
upon a "bridge some miles farther, on the Belville road ; the 
country from thence is highly cultivated. We passed fields of 
turnips, and orchards loaded with apples, between Cobourg and 
Colburn; but twenty miles from Belville the land looks poor and 
dreary, and very little cleared from stumps and fallen timber. 
Cobourg itself is a clean, regularly built small town, with three 
pretty good hotels, and many shops well supplied. A steamboat 
will take us to Toronto at night ; it is about sixty miles' distance 
on Lake Ontario. 

Ocioher 14. — I slept on board the Maple-leaf last night, 
although we reached Toronto before eleven o'clock; but there 
were comfortable ' state-rooms,' and I had found so much incon- 
venience from landing at night in strange places, that I was glad 
to accede to the Captain's proposition for our sleeping in the ves- 
sel. He greatly relieved my mind by an assurance that the un- 
happy Arctic was not sunk by collision with the Cleopatra, which 
must have been hundreds of miles distant, but that it was a 
French propeller with which she came in contact. It does seem 
an extraordinary recklessness which causes these dreadful occur- 
rences, when railroad whistles would guard against them. Why 
are they not attached to every vessel ? They are universally 
used upon the American lakes, and the captains tell me they can 
be heard at ten miles' distance ; yet we submit to the risk of our 
vessels running one another down, rather than make use of this 
reasonable precaution, just as we retain our separate railroad car- 
riages, at the risk of being burned, or murdered, or doubled up, 
rather than travel in long cars, or have a line of communication 
through the small ones. I heard the other day that one of the 
public carriages used on this side the Atlantic costs £750, but as 
that holds from sixty to eighty passengers, I imagine it is less ex- 
pensive than our compartments which hold six or eight ; and in 
the larger ones we have the advantage of ready communication, 
and I think more air with less dust. We left Cobourg about one 
o'clock, and it was a pleasant voyage along this sea-like lake to 
Toronto. This large town is so English in habits and appear- 



TORONTO. 10a 

ance, that I can hardly believe myself visitiDg the capital of Up- 
per Canada. We are in a comfortable hotel, kept by Mrs. Ellah, 
who came from Plymouth, and was originally housekeeper to 
Lord Seaton. She is very huppy to see English customers, and 
we feel at home in her house. It was a wet morning when we 
landed ; but in the afternoon I drove to see the cemetery, which 
in Canada, as in all the towns in America, appears to be placed 
on one of the most picturesque spots in the neighbourhood. That 
at Toronto is called Bon-vale. A stream runs through the pretty 
dell which forms part of the enclosure, and this, with the hills 
above, forms the burying-ground. It is about two miles from the 
town, and is also named St. James's Cemetery. Here I found 
(in seed) a smaller x\nemone than that which grew at the spot 
appropriated for the same purpose at Hull, overlooking the great 
Fails of the Ottawa — the only two localities in which I have 
found Anemones. 

October 15. — Fine early, but like a cold March day in Eng- 
land. The north-westerly wind was high, having much the sharp- 
ness of our easterly breezes. This hotel is a large square red- 
brick building, in what is called Front-street, facing the ba}^ A 
railroad runs between it and the water, which here looks like a 
river not much wider than the St. Lawrence, the indentation from 
the lake is so deep. I see nothing like a mountain in the neigh- 
bourhood, or even at any distance from Toronto ; and the forests 
by which the town is backed are at too great a distance. The 
country for some miles round is flat, well cleared, and in good 
cultivation ; but, with the exception of the little dell I visited 
yesterday, there is no other attraction of scenery than the ocean- 
like waters of Ontario; but the streets are wide and well laid 
out. When polished a little, Toronto will be a noble city, though 
Ottawa may hereafter vie with it as one of the capitals of Can- 
ada. 

October 16. — The cathedral here is a pretty new church, in 

style, early perpendicular. It was built by a young architect 

from England, of the name of Cumberland, and is very creditable 

to his taste. The eastern termination is an apse rather than a 

5* 



105 LAKE ONTARIO. 

chancel. I thouglit the windows particularly good, and they will 
be beautiful when a little painted glass is introduced, with a duo 
regard to harmonious colouring ; this happily must be done in 
small compartments, as the- glass is already thus arranged : it is 
almost entirely in patterns formed by triangles, with a small cross 
in the centre of each circular termination ; but these triangular 
panes are so varied in size and shape (although there are few 
much larger than the old diamond pane), that a pretty light design 
is the result of these different combinations ; the lead which di- 
vides and unites them is very small and light. A service was 
performed, half-an-hour longer and half-an-hour later than any at 
Quebec ; so that I did not think it so well arranged here as there, 
where it was conducted with equal attention to the ordinary rou- 
tine, but without tedium. Yesterday was bitterly cold, so that I 
heaped on every wrap in my possession ; and if this is only a 
foretaste of a Canadian winter, I feel happy at the idea of escap- 
ing from it ; for, though every one tells me about the delights of 
sleighing in clear, bright, frosty weather, that does not sound 
tempting to me. This morning I saw the new University, and 
at the Parliament-house Professor Hincks showed me his com- 
mencement of a museum of natural history, already containing 
some very interesting specimens. 

. October 17. — I left Toronto at two o'clock yesterday by the 
Highlander. Having been assured that we should reach Hamilton 
in daylight, I was weak enough to be again deluded by uncertain 
or false information ; but the steamer stopped so often at various 
towns and settlements (among them Port Credit and a pretty little 
place called Oakville), that it was quite dark before we arrived ; 

and if it had not been for the kindness of my friend Miss C 

and her nephew, who came down to the wharf with their carriage 
to take charge of me, I should have put up with any accommoda- 
tion on board, rather than have run the risk of another landing like 
those at Ogdensburg and Belville, — not only disagreeable, but, as 
it appears to me, really dangerous ; for on these wharves there is 
nothing to protect strangers from walking over the edge into the 
water ; and a few weeks ago, at Cobourg, a poor young woman, 



DEMONSTRATION AT HAMILTON. 107 

carrying her infant (although slie had her husband with her) stepped 
off the side, and was drowned, with the child, before any assistance 
could be afforded her. I was hospitably received at the house oi 
Mr. B , and passed an agreeable evening. 

October 18. — When I came down to breakfast yesterday, I was 
told the reason of all the bell-ringing and firing I heard last night ; 
having been so accustomed to noise, I went to sleep without any 
idea that news had arrived, after I went to bed, about a great victo- 
ry over the Russians, and the taking of Sebastopol. This came by 
telegraph from New York ; and about midnight the Mayor and in- 
habitants assembled, amid cheers for the Queen and groans for the 
Czar, to fire a salute of twenty-one guns; and no place in England 
could evince more joy and loyal feeling than the town of Hamilton, 
at the west end of Lake Ontario. I understand there were equal 
rejoicings at Toronto, where a large bonfire was added, to mark the 
event; but some touch of sorrow for the unhappy victims of the 
Russian Emperor's ambition among his people, and anxiety about 
our own gallant friends, makes us rejoice with trembling. It is 
impossible not to dread the details, while we are thankful for the 
rc3Uits. 

Yesterday, I was taken a beautiful drive of sixteen miles to 
Ancaster, an older settlement than this. "We first went up what 
is here called the mountain — a cliff-like hill, supposed to have once 
been bounded by a vast sheet of water, which covered this whole 
country ; so that the northern shore of the St. Lawence, up to 
Quebec, was then also another limit. In our way back to Ham- 
ilton, we came by a fine Macadamized road, descending gradually, 
in a manner which reminded me of Haldon hill, in Devonshire ; 
beautifully wooded park-like ground, gullies, and ravines, on our 
right hand, terminated by a high mountainous ridge, along the 
side of which the London railroad is carried, passing by the set- 
tlement of Dundas, which has already a population of about five 
thousand, which has located itself in a pretty valley between the 
hills. Passing along this district, I could imagine mj^self in a 
well-cultivated, picturesque part of England, if the superabun- 
dance of timber and the ' snake fences ' (containing more wood 



108 MILTON. 

upon fifty acres than we should use to fence five hundred in the 
old country) did not speak plainly oi American forests. Before 
the lapse of ten years, Hamilton, following the promise of most 
Canadian towns, will be a large city. It has already spread itself 
out some miles, and building is going on in every direction. This 

morning Miss C promises to take a drive of fifty miles with 

me, to find out a family (settled at a place called Milton), about 
whom I am interested. 

October 19. — I succeeded in discovering the M family, 

and we were fully repaid for a long drive, by the joyous gratitude 
with which our visit was received. We found Milton to be a 
thriving small town on the banks of part of the Sixteenth River 
(why this name, we could not make out). An annual show of 
cattle and agricultural produce made the place like a fair, and 
numbers of very respectable-looking farmers were walking and 

driving about. Yf e found two daughters of Mr. M ; one of 

them wife of the principal hotel keeper, the other married to a 
well informed, gentlemanly young man, the doctor of the place, 
who has good connections in England. We dined with them, and 
afterwards walked three miles with her father, to his own farm. 

We found Mrs. M knitting, seated by a glorious log fire, and 

everything around told of the comforts and contentment of a good 
English farm-house. These farms are divided into what are 
called lots ; each lot is one hundred acres. Mr. M pur- 
chased a lot and a half. These farms are much better cleared 
from trees and stumps than the land through which we passed 
from the Rideau canal to Belville ; and this part of Canada is 
altogether much more advanced than the lower division. 

AVe got back to Hamilton by dark, without any difficulty. 

Next day, Mr. B drove me to the suspension bridge, over the 

canal, near Dundum Castle, the residence of Sir A. M'Nab ; 
though a pretty situation, it is placed between the lake and a 
marsh, on which account it is considered very unhealthy. We 
visited the cemetery enclosing the ground where the British troops 
were entrenched before the battle of Stony Creek, By the cars 

which start at three o'clock. Miss C and Mr, S promise 

to go with me to Niagara. 



FALLS OF NIAGARA. 109 

October 20. — Niagara. — We had a fine afternoon for oui 
journey to this beautiful place, and soon after leaving the railroad 
cars, I got my first view of the Falls. I had not a feeling of dis- 
appointment ; they are quite as magnificent as any imagination 
need desire. I was told that the Falls of Montmorenci had the 
advantage of some feet in height ; hut it would he as reasonable 
to compare the Thames v/ith the St. Lawrence, as the Falls of 
Montmorenci with Niagara ! I was up before six this morning, 
to see the sun rise ; it appeared above the horizon, between the 
village of Niagara and the American Fall, rather behind both : a 
fine red sun, promising good weather, I settled in my own mind, 
I would try to make a drawing to-morrow at the same hour, with 
the salmon-coloured sky in contrast with the white waters. This 
first day it was impossible to draw ; I could only look ; for 
some hours we walked about ; I wandered into the wood behind 
the Table Eock, or rather where the Table Rock once was ; for 
it has now nearly fallen into the boiling waters beneath. There 
I gathered two of those beautiful flowers I first found at Point 
Levi — Lobelia Kalmii and Gentiana Saponaria ; and down close 

to the brink of the river, above the Falls, Mr. S and I picked 

up three or four kinds of shells ; one very small bivalve, difier- 
ing from any I found in the Rideau. After dinner we took a 
carriage, and went over that marvellous suspension bridge, below 
the Falls, connecting the two shores, already open for trafiic be- 
neath, but not yet finished for the railroad cars to pass over 
above. I felt rather glad ; it was awful enough now to pass, 
looking down hundreds of feet upon the racing torrent below. I 
I do not think I could endure being in a carriage upon this 
bridge, with a railroad train rushing over my head, yet it is con- 
stituted for, and believed capable of supporting all together. The 
engineer is a German. This is only a little less wonderful than 
the Montreal tubular construction. Many people still doubt the 
success of both, and consider it beyond the power of humanity to 
pass, as proposed, over the chasm of Niagara, or to combat the 
waters and ice of the St. Lawrence. Time will show. My cour- 
age was again tried in traversing the wooden bridges which are 



110 A PROFITABLE ESTATE. 

built over the rapids between Niagara city and Goat Island. Tbat 
place also, was quite diiFerent from what either my imagination, 
or drawings had led me to suppose. I expected to see an unin- 
habited, rocky, woody, small island, dividing the two grand Falls ; 
but it contains fifty acres, the greater part a grove of fine trees, 
and upon one side there are houses and gardens, with a produc- 
tive orchard. Upon the other shore it appears as if island, and 
trees, and people, must all tumble down the Falls together ; in- 
deed between rapids and torrents, it is a marvel that Goat Island 
exists. I must spend a day in trying to draw here, though with- 
out a hope that paper and pencil can give any real idea of the 
truth. The news to-day is, that the accounts of the fall of Sebas- 
topol are false, and that we have been rejoicing without reason. 
Terrible fighting is still going on, and already ninety British offi- 
cers have fallen. Alas ! 

October 21. — I covered m^^self with wraps, and put a blanket 
round my feet, so as to be able to endure a sunrise from the 
verandah long enough to draw yesterday. It rose red and clear, 
and almost cloudless, and afforded the colouring I wished for. 

Mr. and Mrs. B obligingly called in their carriage, to show 

us the whirlpool, where the river suddenly turns below the sus- 
pension bridge ; we went also to the rapids beyond and above the 
Falls. Everything here is on a larger scale than I expected, 
though I ought by this time to be prepared for all. When I 
looked down upon the whirlpool, and saw the carcase of a wretched 
horse (which had, we suppose, been accidentally hurried down the 
Falls) twirling round about, and up and down, in appearance like 
a small wooden Dutch toy, I was in some degree made sensible 
of height and distance ; a house too, on the rocky, wooded point 
opposite, was no more than a speck, so that, by comparison, I 
brought my ideas to something like fact. 

The English are accused of being a grasping nation in re- 
quiring fees for sights, but nothing I ever met with equals the 
charges for the contemplation of Nature here. The possessor of 
Goat Island makes one thousand pounds a year of those strangers 
or visitors who land on its shores ; but this day we were actually 



NIAGARA. Ill 

charged one shilling each for only going into the wood, from 
whence a good view of the whirlpool can be obtained ! As ground 
is becoming of great value in this neighbourhood, it may be 
necessary to require payment for keeping any part of it free from 
the desecration of taverns and saw-mills ; but a more moderate fee 
would answer better to the proprietors, and not act as a prohi- 
bition to a large class who have not many spare shillings in their 
pockets ; penny postage proves that small charges answer better 
than large ones. This has been another beautiful day, and I trust 
we shall be favoured by such weather during our stay among 
this most magnificent, most lovely, and most interesting of all 
scenery. Yesterday was pleasantly warm, and if the sun shines 
out for a day or two longer, we shall be as fortunate in temper- 
ature as possible, for earlier in the year the heat and the mosquitoes 
are trying ; now we have no reason to complain of either, and 
the great stream of visitors being over, we are here just at the 
right time for enjoyment ; and I must remain some days, for 
there is no end to the beauties of Niagara — it ought to be visited 
for weeks instead of days ; besides the great variety of views and 
objects on all sides, — the ever-changing appearance of the Falls, 
spray sometimes going up from the centre in columns and grace- 
ful curves, now half concealing, now lessening, now enlarging — 
rainbows starting across, and above and below — waters, snow-like, 
surge-like — aquamarine, emerald, sapphire, swelling, eddying, 
foaming ! It is certainly worth crossing the Atlantic for Niagara 
alone. I have come to an end of my paper, and this shall go. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



\J- ^^ \/ X/ \,r' k/- V/ i^r V^' -K/ \/ \^ %/ Va V/ -l-'- \^^ -^y S, 



LETTER XL 

NIAGARA. 

KiAGAUA, October 23, 1S54. 

My dear Friends, — 

Upon Goat Island yesterday, I parted with tlie two agree- 
able friends who have added to my enjoymer.t here by sharing it. 
I spent the whole afternoon that side the water, having passed to 
and fro by the ferry, and mounted by the rail and endless chain, 
at the very edge of the American Falls. Both these operations 
are awful, though perfectly safe ; and it required some determina- 
tion upon my part to be reconciled to profit by them, though they 
put one across the river in half the time required to go round by 
the suspension bridge. I tried to give some idea of the two 
cataracts on paper, which, at any rate, will be recollections for my- 
self. I suppose it is not possible to impress their grandeur upon 
the minds of others by any representations. For the first time, I 
felt rather angry at the impertinent kind of curiosity evinced by 
passers-by while I was drawing, because they did not seem to 
care the least about disturbing or annoying strangers busily 
engaged. A well-dressed woman said, in a rude way, ' Pray 
what are you making there ? You are a Canadian, I guess ? ' I 
replied, ' I am making nothing; I am trying to draw.' ' Oh, you 
are — how do you do it ? — where do you come from ? ' I felt 
provoked, and said, ' I am sure you are an American.' ' Well, 
how do you know that ? ' ' Because you ask so many questions, 



NIAGARA. 113 

a Canadian would be more civil.' This answer was effectual, and 
she turned away. Since my stay here, I have observed more of 
unpleasant manners, as I have read of them in books, than 
fell in my way during my tour from Boston in August; and, 
certainly, among the secondary classes, I see little of the marked 
attention supposed to be shown to ladies in the States. Last 
night in the ladies' saloon here, two gentlemen kept possession of 
the most comfortable arm-chairs all the evening, and when Miss 

C and I entered the room, round which was a circle of 

strangers from various localities, not one among them rose to offer 
us seats, so we walked out again up and down a corridor till some 
of these people absquatulated. This might be accidental, but I 
do not think it could have occurred in the old country. It seems to 
me that the Americans mistake rudeness for republicanism, and in- 
civility for independence. Nationally, I mean, for of course there 
is polished society, as I have been perfectly ready to admit. Yes- 
terday, a lady from one of the Southern States remarked, that 
we ' English still owed America a grudge for what was past.' I 
could not help assuring her she was mistaken, for that neither 
man, woman, nor child in the British Isles now troubled them- 
selves about the war of American Independence, except to think 
their ancestors unwise for having fought about it. The day 
before yesterday, I was busy making a little sketch from the 
verandah, when I felt a hand familiarly laid upon my shoulder. 
Of course I supposed it was a lady with whom I had some ac- 
quaintance, but when a strange voice asked a question, I turned 
round : it was with no small degree of astonishment that I found 
the liberty was taken by a perfect stranger, a young lady, appa- 
rently about twenty, who had been one of the last arrivals. She 
did not seem the least daunted by the expression of surprise 
which must have passed over my face, but went on questioning 
me with the coolest manner imaginable ! The Indians and their 
squaws have the manners of gentlemen and ladies, and it does 
seem curious that even individuals, among a people who are so 
anxious to assume the names of gentility, should remain so 
wholly ignorant of the manners which are supposed to indicate a 



114 MANNERS OF THE SQUAWS. 

superior station and a refined education. I do not the least 
quarrel with the simplicity of the Bush, and the poor woman 
who took possession of the pattern of my gown, and the men who 
claimed a right to my sketch-hook, were most welcome ; but the 
mixture of assumption of hifjh breedino; with inattention to the 

loo 

common rules of politeness, not even that natural feeling of 
regard which a common Anglo-Saxon blood originates, can make 
one excuse. Indeed, I think our relationship makes it more 
galling, for a parent is always observant of the errors of her 
children, and it is perhaps in some degree the fault of the mother 
country when her descendants are unpolished. She may well be 
proud of the energy and perseverance of her large American 
family : it is to be hoped that some day their young people may 
add graces from the old country to the agility of the new, and 
that they will not be ashamed of cultivating the virtue of filial 
affection, which at present they seem to conclude would be a feel- 
ing derogatory to their rising dignity. At this juncture it is 
difficult to believe that parts of the Democratic Union actually 
sympathize with Despotic Russia rather than with Free England ! 
I do not believe this to be the case with the flower of the land, or 
with the really superior and enlightened of her sons ; but I fear 
many would sympathize in a wish I heard heartily expressed by one 
of them, ' That the old country might get well sold, and thoroughly 
whipped during the present war ! ' No details have yet arrived 
of the Alma battle, excepting that there has been sad loss of life. 
The first news was probably falsehood, spread by the Russians, 
with the view of creating dissatisfaction when the real facts 
became known ; but v.^hat must be the weakness of a despot who 
can resort to such expedients to bolster himself up — conduct 
more like the futile struggles of a maniac, than the efforts of a 
powerful Sovereign. Before going to Albany, I intend to visit 
the neighbourhood of Sandwich, and of Detroit and Cleveland ; 
and to do this, we must again pass through Hamilton and return 
to Niagara ; but, as I shall have no other opportunity, I must 
take advantage of this last week in October, go from hence to- 
morrow, and return for one night to this house on my a? ay into 



AN OLD IRISHWOMAN. 115 

the States. It is satisfactory that a good reason exists for seeing 
Niagara once again. 

October 24. — A beautiful day, with a bright young moon in 
the evening. I was out alone from morning till dusk. While 
sitting sketching on the hill, an old Irishwoman accosted me, but 
with a very different tone and manner from those people I met 
with yesterday. ' Ah, ma'am,' she said, ' you are from the ould 
country; and sure you are making a plan of the glorious waters.' 
' How do you know I am from the old country ? ' 'An' sure then, 
an' don't I know English ladies at once ; they're so busy, an' they 
don't dress as fine as our folks.' I found she had been twenty-iive 
years in Canada ; that she has eight sons and daughters, a good 
husband, cows and horses, a thriving farm here, and one hundred 
acres of land at Toronto, and now, she said, she no longer fretted 
tp go back once more to Ireland, because ' Isn't the dear ould 
father dead at last ; and he one hundred and eight years of age, 
and never had a doctor till the last hour, and was able to keep his 
church, two miles' distance, till he was laid on his bed a-dying.' 
She told me she had given her children a good education, and 
* that her daughters were not dressy, nor her sons drinkers.' It is 
singufar that these Irish people are so different in their habits 
away from their own land. There is an electric telegraph in com- 
munication with all the lines from this place in the house. Mr. 
Shears, the master, conducts it ; he sent a message to Sandwich 
for me last night, and one for a military officer to Quebec \ and 
we had both replies in half an hour. This hotel belongs to a com- 
pany : it is by far the most pleasantly situated at Niagara ; those 
on the other side of the water have no views of the cataract. The 
vibration caused throughout this building by the falling waters 
makes every door and window shake ; but it is not enough to dis- 
turb the rest of a traveler, and one soon gets accustomed to ft. 
Besides the main hotel, there are several small separate houses 
behind, which can be taken for the summer or for short periods, 
by families who prefer a more domestic life. I can hardly imagine 
pleasanter summer residences. 

October 26. — Detroit^ National Hotd. — Again I had the mis- 



116 LAKES ERIE AND ST. CLAIR. 

fortune of travelling last night for three hours in the dark — thus 
losing the prettiest of the scenery between this place and Niagara. 
The first part of the railroad lino from Hamilton runs through 
monotonous forests, only occasionally broken by clearings and 
rising towns. We passed through the township of Dundas, and 
by Paris, Prince Town, London, &c,, and crossed over the River 
Thames, which is but a small stream even comparing it with our 
Thames ; but for America it is little more than a brooklet, at least 
that part I saw. As far as I could judge by the bright starlight, 
for about twenty miles from this place the road is carried along 
a fine terrace overlooking the country towards Lake Erie, and as 
we approached Detroit, Lakes Erie and St. Clair looked beau- 
tiful, with shores dotted by lights from the towns of Windsor 
and Detroit. They were so numerous that it appeared like an il- 
lumination. Our journey was less pleasant than any I have yet 
made, owing to the crowded state of the railroad cars ; though the 
train was a long one, some passengers were actually, obliged to 
stand the whole distance. This crowd was owing to the numerous 
emigrants who are coming up the couistry ; and several little 
children wailed and fretted all the afternoon, evidently tired and 
exhausted by continued travelling. However, the people were 
good-humoured and patient ; I heard no cross words, saw no ill- 
natured scrambling; every one appeared to make the best of 
things as they were ; and though we were near two hours after 
our time, there was nothing like a grumble. The station-master 
was so civil as to take me across the water, as he recommended 
this hotel as more comfortable than those on the Canada side. 
We passed over in a few minutes in such a magnificent steamer 
(where people from the railroad cars found a comfortable meal 
ready prepared in the saloon) that it was only like walking through 
a good house. Ormolu lamps, mirrors, and sofas — it was difficult 
to realize the fact that we have been journeying through the back- 
v/oods of Canada. I am surprised to find Detroit already a city 
of forty thousand inhabitants, and one of the finest I have yet seen 
on this side of the Atlantic. A large open space in the centre 
will some of these days be a magnificent square. There are a 



A PERFECT PANORAMA. 117 

number of churclies, chiefly with spires. The streets are wide, 
some of them planted with avenues of trees. The town contains 
two very large hotels, besides many smaller ones. The one I in- 
habit has a dining-room one hundred and twenty feet in length, 
capable of containing four rows of tables in the width, a ladies' 
saloon, and other rooms in proportion ; and I am told the Biddle 
House is equally commodious. Almost all these places have 
lanterns in the roof. After breakfast, the master took me up to 
the one here, from which the view astonished me. I have heard 
there is no place in the world from which you can see five miles 
in every direction, except from the top of the highest mountains, 
but this place belies that assertion : it is a perfect panorama, and 
as there are no hills in this part of the country, one sees in every 
direction from ten to twenty, and possibly thirty miles. On one 
side Lake St. Clair, with the beautiful River Detroit connecting 
it and the Lake Erie (about twenty miles distant). The town 
runs along the banks of the river, Windsor and Sandwich, both in 
Canada, on the other shore. Numbers of vessels are passing and 
repassing, and there is an uninterrupted water communication 
through all these fine lakes and rivers, two thousand miles, to the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. What an empire this will be when ail its 
resources are developed ! And they are developing with great 
rapidity ; for of all the towns I saw in passing from Niagara yes- 
terday, not one was in existence twenty years ago. 

October 27. — Yesterday afternoon Mrs. P came to call, 

and kindly brought me at once to this place. Park Farm, in 
Sandwich. We crossed the river without moving from the car- 
riage, and arrived at the house in time to take a walk. Colonel 

P has not gone upon the usual plan in this part of the world 

— that of rooting up the forest, without any idea of leaving orna- 
mental timber ; and his place is beautified by woods, at proper 
intervals, while the cultivation of the land is that of an English 
farm. The Colonel tells me there is fine shooting all about 
here — deer, within ten miles. Yesterday, he and his son brought 
in as many snipes, vroodcocks, and a small kind of quail, as they 
chose to shoot. 



118 A PENITENT RUNAWAY. 

October 28. — A dreadful accident occurred very early yester- 
day morning, near Chatliam, about fifteen miles from Detroit ; 
upon the same railroad by whicb we came from Niagara. Some 
trucks, filled with gravel, were proceeding at the rate of sixteen 
miles an hour, actually in front of the express train, goin^ at the 
rate of forty. Of course there was a collision ; three or four of 
the first cars were smashed; and it is believed that sixty or sev- 
enty persons are killed ; exact particulars have not yet reached 
us ; but this seems one of the most fatal of all the railroad ca- 
tastrophes, and caused entirely by carelessness. There was a 
dense fog at the time it occurred ; but surely the gravel-trucks 
had no business in the way of the coming train. I am surprised 
at the large number of blacks and coloured people hereabouts ; 
nearly all the lowest population appears to consist of them ; they 
are idle, and very insolent in manner. I met with an English 
clergyman on board the Lake Ontario steamer, who was on his 
way to this country, with the intention of making an efi'ort to civ- 
ilize and educate the negroes who have settled here. He told 
me there are at least twenty thousand, chiefly runaway slaves, in 
Upper Canada. One of the evils consequent upon Southern 
slavery, is the ignorant and miserable set of coloured people who 

throw themselves into Canada. Colonel P told me yesterday 

he was brought out home from Windsor, by a black driver, who 
told him he had ' run away from his good, kind massa,' years ago ; 
and that though he was free, and able to get his own livelihood, 
he had never ceased to repent his folly. The black should be 
educated for freedom, or he is not the happier. If mere chil- 
dren, sent into the world unfit to guide themselves, negroes suffer 
more by freedom than by servitude ; and I must regret that the 
well-meant enthusiasm of the Abolitionists has been without 
judgment. Dr. Howe, Mr. Dillon, and others devoted to the 
real welfare of the black race, all are of opinion that in their 
case, as in many others, ill-judging friends have proved worse 
than enemies ; and, without having been among the planters, my 
observation in the States, of the majority of free blacks, already 
leads me to the same conclusion. It is not a question between 



SCARCITY OF SERVANTS. llO 

the wickedness of a system of human bondage and the duty of 
shaking it off, but one as to the wisdom of getting rid of an evil, 
without making use of common sense in the manner of curing it. 

Colonel and Mrs. P took me a drive yesterday afternoon 

along the shore of the Detroit (which is rather a strait, twenty 
miles long, connecting the Lakes St. Clair and Erie, than a 
river). It looks, in some places, from five to seven miles wide ; 
and there is no more stream than that movement which is occa- 
sioned by a slight difference of level between the two waters. 
Some fishermen were fishing for white fish, and a kind of fresh-water 
herring. The nets were taken out in boats, as in England ; but, 
when the ends were to be drawn in, the rope was fastened to a 
windlass, and a horse trotting round and round, soon brought the 
net on shore — a saving of both time and labour. I saw a curi- 
ous kind of fish-lizard brought out ; it was about two feet in 
length from the end of the tail to its round, cat-like snout ; it 
crawled along the ground on its short legs and tortoise-like feet, 
and was altogether a disgusting-looking beast. The fishermen said 
its bite was very poisonous, and it had the yellowish brown lurid look 
^vhich seems to appertain to venomous reptiles ; but Dr. Kirt- 
land says it is perfectly harmless. We induced them to throw it 
back into the water, where it probably exercises some virtues not 
to be guessed when it is seen out of its natural element. I found 
many little fresh-water shells on the shore, and one mussel, with 
a wing appendage almost like that of a rostellaria. A sunset 
more lovely than any I have before seen ; it promised fine wea- 
ther — a happy promise for me, as I find myself again obliged to 
take part of my voyage to Cleveland by night. No steamer 
leaves Detroit earlier than four o'clock to-day; but I shall have 
daylight for the river, so I must be reconciled to being in dark- 
ness on Lake Erie, with the consolation of a moon, now son^e 
days old. Such quantities of apples here, rotting on the ground 
for want of bauds to gather them. The negroes will not take that 
trouble, even for pay ; and, in spite of the great emigration, la- 
bour is much wanted : people are in distress for both out-of-door 
and in-door servants. I walked with Mrs. P down to the 



120 SANDWICH. 

river : many black and mulatto cliildren were playing about 
near some small log-houses, close to a marsb, on its shore ; one 
clean-looking intelligent girl, about seven, helped to look for 
shells, and then asked me to visit her mother, who, she said, was 
sick in a hut close by. I followed the child, and found her 
mother in bed, quite alone, with the exception of a tiny black 
babe, only two hours old, by her side. She received me cordial- 
ly ; conversed in a cheerful, intelligent manner, and said she was 
brought by a lady from Maryland to this place, twenty years 
ago, when only seventeen years of age ; this kind mistress gave 
her freedom, and she married a husband of her own colour, who 
works in the boats. I said, ' Are you glad to be free ? ' — ' Oh, 
am I not ? it is only the ignorant and the lazy ones who do not 
care to be free; but then they be most so.' She has three girls 
alive, besides her baby-boy, whose arrival makes her very happy, 
because she has lost three boys. Everything around this woman 
spoke of tidy and cleanly habits ; a little Bible well bound was 
on the table close to her bed, and other comforts evinced educa- 
tion and order beyond the usual negro habits. 

I afterwards visited the hut of an old negro washerwoman, 
who lived alone, and seemed a kind, industrious old soul. In 
the other houses of the black people, I was told I should find 
nothing but dressy, saucy, idle folk. We were in Detroit to meet 
the steamer at four o'clock ; then it was discovered she would 
not start till night, and after spending many tiresome hours, 
waiting and expecting, the Ocean did not get under way till near 
midnight ; and when on board I found out I might have set off 
by nine o'clock this beautiful morning, if I had gone by a boat to 
Sandusky, whence a railroad would have carried me to Cleveland 
before dusk, and I should have steamed up the Detroit River, 
with a bright sun over my head, instead of traversing it when 
even the early moonlight was over. En revanche, I had a fine 
sunrise on Lake Erie. I have now passed one night on the St. 
Lawrence, one on Lake Ontario, and the last on Lake Erie, 
besides two or three landings in the dark ; and this obscure mode 
of travelling is ho usual on this side the Atlantic, that it requires 



CLEVELAND. 121 

some perseverance and energy, really to acquire knowledge about 
localities in America. To-morrow I shall set forth by rail to Buf- 
falo — in daylight I hope; so that only the last part of my jour- 
ney will be in the dark, and I shall reach Niagara by moonlight. 
These late slaughtering railroad accidents are enough, I should 
think, to counteract the American and Canadian predilection for 
night travelling. But it does appear as if these active people 
would rather sacrifice their lives than lose an hour of their time 
while they do live. ' Dollars and time, time and dollars,' should 
be the motto on this side the Atlantic. Cleveland is another 
pretty place, with streets as wide as those of Detroit, and a grow- 
ing population of forty thousand. New churches here also starting 
up in every direction. Religion has certainly her due place in 
the hearts of the inhabitants, though the worship of Mammon may 
here, as elsewhere, compete with a better faith. 

October 30. — Here I am still at Cleveland, in spite of my 
resolution to return to Niagara this evening : but it was quite 
impossible to resist the temptations offered by the kindness of Dr. 
and Mrs. Kirtland, and we slept last night at their house, five 
miles from hence. His garden was the first I have ever seen 
since that at Cambridge, which oJBfered many objects of interest. 
Besides other plants new to me, I gathered berries of a singular 
colour, greenish blue, from an Ampelosis, with briony-like leaves. 
Dr. Kirtland has paid great attention to the improvement of 
fruits, particularly cherries, and he is a most scientific naturalist ; 
his birds, stuffed and arranged by himself, excel those of Water- 
ton ; and the manner in which his entomological specimens are 
preserved is quite unique and admirable ; they are in frames, with 
glass behind and before, so that they can be observed on all sides, 
and when held up to the light, while, being rendered impervious 
to air and unassailable to insects, they are indestructible. I am 
promised a specimen case, which will be an invaluable example to 
collectors and museums in Europe. Dr. Kirtland was also so 
obliging as to give me numerous shells from the fresh waters of 
this district, which differ from those I found on the Ottawa and 
on the shore of Lake Champlain ; and this morning he took me a 
6 



122 BATTLE OP THE ALMA. 

■walk througli the forests, where I found a great deal of the pretty 
Cornus florida, and seeds of a Geradia, differing from that growing 
near Lake Winnipiseogee. The oak most common here, is called 
the grey oak : there is another with chestnut-shaped leaves and a 
long acorn, and one with deeply cut, small, shining leaves. The 
Sassafras and three or four species of poplar also grow in this 
forest, hut no evergreens ; and none are to he seen between a 
place called Paynesville and Detroit, unless in gardens; no firs, 
no cedars, no Lignum vitse (which grows so beautifully on the 
banks of the Ottawa and the Gatineau, and again at Niagara) ; 
but the variety of trees and shrubs is greater here than in the 
neighbourhood of Sandwich, where the forests are principally beech, 
and the white and scarlet oak, with tamarisks in the swamps. 
The orchards at this place are very productive : peaches, cherries, 
and excellent apples. Among the last, the true golden pippin 
and nonpareil. Dr. Kirtland is famed for his cultivation of fruit. 
This evening I have been much interested, having for the first 
time read the details of the sad, though successful battle of Alma ; 
but our heroes have not died in vain — they died as missionaries of 
truth and civilization. Those English and French soldiers who 
have fallen side by side at the battle of Alma, have sealed with 
their blood a lasting alliance between their respective nations ; 
and thousands of serfs will go to school in England, and there 
learn that they are men. I came back to sleep at the Weddell 
Hotel, where the accommodation is excellent, and we hope to as- 
certain exactly the hour when a railroad train starts for Niagara 
via Buffalo, to-morrow morning. One comfort is, the time of 
the cars cannot be so difficult to discover as that of the steamer 
Ocean, at Detroit, where we walked up and down the wharves for 
more than two hours, without being able to find out, from any man, 
woman, or child, where the great steamer had hid herself ! Peo- 
ple in these rising cities are all too busy to know anything that 
does not concern their immediate objects. 

November 1. — Niagara. — To-day we go to Canandaigua, hav- 
ing safely returned last night to this place. 

November 2. — Owing to the impossibility of getting correct in- 



CAYUGA LAKE. 123 

formation, I was sent across country, and we were all day on the 
American shore of the Falls. At half-past seven in the evening 
the cars did start, but before eight we were brought to a stand- 
still ; for the engine and the two first carriages ran off the line, 
owing to some miscreant having removed a rail. No person was 
injured, but for six mortal hours we were kept waiting until trains 
came up each way, so as to allow of an exchange of passengers 
and luggage ; and it was seven in the morning before the cars 
which received us at the place of stopping reached Canandaigua. 
The lake there is not so picturesque as most of those I have seen ; 
but there is a nice small town, and the house from which I write 
is the most comfortable and best appointed of any I have yet seen 
in the United States. Ithaca will be our next halting-place ; it 
is upon the Cayuga Lake. 

November 5. — Cayuga Lake, Ithaca. — In our way to this 
place, yesterday, we came by rail to Cayuga Bridge, and there 
awaited the steamboat Forest City, to carry us forty miles down 
the lake to Ithaca. During the three hours of our detention, 
I took a walk, made a sketch of the place from a spot about a mile 
and a half off, and found a plane tree, which appears to me to 
differ from both the oriental and occidental, though rather more 
like the latter. It is here called button tree, from its hanging, 
round seed-vessels. I gathered some of the latter nearly ripe, 
and also a leaf. Upon the weeping elms it is interesting to see 
the little nest of the hanging Oriole, which thus builds out of the 
reach of danger from terrestrial enemies — ^boy, beast, or reptile. 
Whether they have winged assailants I do not know. A wind 
from the north yesterday was very cold, and on board the steam- 
boat I was obliged to confine myself to the cabin ; the shores of 
these lakes are pretty, and we touched at a village called Aurora, 
a very rural-looking spot. I saw many nice-looking houses, with 
a better show of flowers and of well-kept gardens than is common 
in America ; and as we advanced towards Ithaca, rocks and pic- 
tnresque gullies became frequent ; the country hilly and broken. 
A railroad, carried to the end of the long pier, received us on our 
landing, and took the passengers to Ithaca, a mile beyond, where 



124 ITHACA. 

I found Mr. G- liad obligingly brought his carriage to take 

me to his home. Sunday : a bright sunshiny morning, like a jfine 
November day in England. The leaves here have nearly all fal- 
len, and it is time to give up touring in the Northern States ; but, 
as I understand the election for the GovernorshiiD of New York 
takes place on Tuesday, and that on that day Governor Seymour 
will either be re-elected or supplanted, I shall remain here to- 
morrow, and sleep at Syracuse on Tuesday, se as not to pay my 
visit at Albany until the election day is over. 

Ithaca^j November 6. — Snow and ice ; bitter cold north-east 

wind, so that though Mrs. G kindly drove me out to make 

a sketch of the place, we were both too cold to fulfil our inten- 
tions of visiting some of the waterfalls in the neighbourhood* I 
could only view one of the most considerable from a distance. 
It has a height of between two and three hundred feet, and must 
be fine when water is abundant. From the great depth of these 
falls, the stream now looks only like white gauze spread over the 
rocks, and it disappears in foam. A gentleman told me that the 
derivation of the word Bavine is Ravel^ from the waters being 
ravelled out as they tumble down. 

Syracuse, November 7. — We came fifty miles round yester- 
day, through the Yalley of the Susquehanna, to avoid retracing 
our way by Lake Cayuga. A new railroad was opened only last 
month, from a place called Binghampton (about thirty miles 
from Ithaca) to Syracuse. Oswego was our first stopping place ; 
the inconvenience of choosing an indirect route being, that we 
have to change cars twice. Two gentlemen, to whom I was intro- 
duced before leaving Ithaca, Mr. Cox and Mr. Parker, reside at 
Oswego. A fine example of engineering is displayed in getting 
the cars up the steep hills, by forward and retrogressive move- 
ments, with a switch at one point ; so that the pretty ' Forest 
City,' Ithaca, is seen at various distances several times durhig 
the first five miles of the ascent ; but no chains are used. The 
country has a wintry appearance — snow upon the hills, and even 
a little by the wayside. We passed through part of the pictu- 
resque Valley of the Susquehanna, following that river close 



HOMER. 125 

upon its banks some way. There I saw timber-trees of the hem- 
lock spruce ; and at a large town called Homer, five churches, 
each of considerable size, all in a row, without any intervening 
houses. No time or room for more. 

Yours aifectionately, 

A. M. M. 



^=^ ^-=^ ^^ ^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-^^^ 

^O ^O ^O ^O ^..O OO O-O ^-O O-^ ^-^ "^^-^ o^ 
^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^-^ 

^ O ^^O O-^ O-^ ^-^ "^-'-^ "^--^ ^^ -^ ^-^ "^-^ c^ ^ 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^i^ -^ ^^ ^ -^ ^ f^ ^-m 



LETTEK XII. 

ALBANY. 



Albany, New York, 
^ov. 8. 



My dear Friends, — 

A snowy morning at Syracuse made it impossible to see 
anything of that town, or its salt-works ; the valuable briny 
springs there so cheapen one great necessary of life, that I am 
told, twenty miles off, a large barrel of salt may be purchased for 
a dollar. The ladies' saloon at the hotel where I slept, exhibited 
that usual absence of occupation which I have remarked at all 
such places — rocking-chairs, lounges, and ennui / One young 
lady took something like a small tract in her hand, and in a few 
minutes was asleep on a sofa — this at half-past ten in the morning. 
When a gentleman came in, and asked for her — ' Oh ! ' said 
another lady, her companion, ' she's asleep ; but she'll wake up 
by dinner time.' And this information was not given the least 
in a satirical tone. "We left Syracuse by the eleven o'clock train 
during a thick snow-storm ; but at noon sunshine broke out. We 
passed through a fine country by Rome, Utica, and Schenectady, 
skirting the river at the latter place. At Little Falls such 
abundance of rocks ! I longed to stop for a botanical ccramble 
among them. Perhaps next June, when the weather is more 
favourable for a visit to Utica and Trenton, I may be again at 
this place. By five o'clock our train reached Albany, — a pleasant, 
rapid journey of ninety miles, during which the cars slided safely 



GOVERNOR SEYMOUR. 12'i 

and pleasantly along. No troublesome companions — but some 
pretty young ladies behind me appeared to think themselves 
privileged to laugh and talk louder than any one else, because 
they were better dressed ; and a gentleman in front evidently 
considered it the bounden duty of an American citizen to be 
bearish. In the hope of softening his temper, I offered him the 
morning paper ; he took it without the smallest acknowledgment, 
and, when done with it, put it down without even returning it. 
Whether he discovered we were ' British,' and an anti-English 
feeling possessed him, I don't know ; but still there was a spice 
of kindness lying under his sulky manner, for when a poor old 
woman and a girl entered the car, he removed his valise, and gave 
them his seat. 

While stopping at one of the stations, a tall handsome Indian 
girl, with some bead-work in her hand, entered the car ; she wore 
a picturesque dress, with a black hat and feather, and silently 
presenting her wares without importunity, she glided on. The 
noisy and reckless, or ungainly, sulky manner of those around 
contrasted unfavourably with the subdued, unobtrusive, graceful 
dignity of the squaw. Nature's gentlemen and gentlewomen, the 
Indians have a true courtesy and a simple politeness, which might 
be advantageously copied by those who are their superiors in 
knowledge and power. 

The Governor of New York, to whom I was introduced at 
Newport, met us at Albany station, and I am now at his house. 
In the midst of a severe contest with two opponents (an election, 
for which the votes amount to 500,000), he preserves a manner of 
calm indifference which his friends do not emulate. I confess 
myself deeply interested in the result — not so much for Mr. Sey- 
mour's sake (because with his love of country pursuits, and his 
freedom from weak ambition, I really believe his personal happi- 
ness will rather be increased than diminished by a return to 
private life) ; but because I believe the welfare of this large popu- 
lation to be well cared for while the power is in his hands. In 
England we have but little idea of the influence exercised by the 
local Governors in the Union. Governor Seymour has the un 



128 A TRANSATLANTIC WEDDING. 

limited power of pardoniDg criminals, and is also Commander-in- 
Cliief of the Array and Navy of this ' Empire State.' He holds 
his ofl&ce for two years only, unless re-elected at the end of that 
timx3. In some of the States, the Governor's tenure is four years; 
and Wright, of Indiana, has now been its head nearly eight years. 
They are, to all intents and purposes, constitutional sovereigns for 
the time being; and seeing a man of Horatio Seymour's bene- 
volence, judgment, and ability placed in this situation, I shall re- 
gret if popular caprice replaces him by an inferior statesman. 
One of the candidates is a ' Know-nothing,' and he has only party 
support. I have no acquaintance with Mr. Clark, the man who 
runs Seymour hard ; if he succeeds, his success will be owing to 
an amiable, though I suspect a mistaken public feeling — about 
the introduction of the Maine prohibitory liquor law. Governor 
Seymour has fearlessly and honestly withheld his assent to the 
introduction of that law into this State. Upon all other points, 
he is popular ; but an extreme and (with some) a religious feeling, 
moves the popular opinion, and Clark is a ' no liquor man.' None 
can have a more sincere horror of intemperance than myself; but 
there is a use as well as an abuse of all things ; and I doubt the 
wisdom of guiding a people to the wise use of a useful article, by 
prohibiting it altogether. 

Albany^ Nov. 10. — I went to a wedding last night : very dif- 
ferently arranged from an English marriage, but interesting. A 
pleasing, well-attired young bride of twenty — the bridegroom 
twenty-six. They stood side by side, at one end of a well-filled 
room, while a Presbyterian minister addressed a suitable but short 
exhortation to them. He then gave the ring to be placed upon 
the bride's finger, telling her to wear it as a pledge of her hus- 
band's affection, and as a reminder of her own duties ; and after 
his blessing upon them both, the ceremony was concluded. It 
took place at eight o'clock, in the presence of from two to three 
hundred friends. The young wife remained awhile in her place 
to receive the kisses of her relations, and the congratulations of 
all. I was introduced ; and she thanked me prettily for my pres- 
ence, and offered her cheek. Her dress was just like our English 



THE MUSEUM. 1^ 

brides, excepting that the white robe had a train. She looked 
calmly happy. The evening was closed by a plentiful standing 
supper — hot oyster soup, &c. In the morning I went to see hot- 
houses and greenhouses belonging to a relation of Mrs. Seymour, 
managed by a gardener who was under Sir Joseph Paxton. Mr. 
Morison does credit to his teacher : he has the best managed col- 
lection of plants I have seen this side of the Atlantic, and a Lyco- 
podium quite new to me. The view from an elevation in Mr. 
Coming's garden is very extensive, overlooking Albany and Troy, 
with fine reaches of the Hudson ; the Catskill mountains in the 
distance one way, and a range in the northern part of the State in 
the other. It is difficult to realize that in coming from Niagara 
here, I have traversed as much country as if I had journeyed from 
John O'G-roat's House to London ! I begin to think nothing of 
a distance of two hundred miles. This evening we spent some 
time in a Museum of Natural History, which is doubly interest- 
ing, from being entirely confined to the productions of this State ; 
so that, my mind not being overwhelmed with variety, I was able 
to see, and to understand what I did see, to much greater advan- 
tage. The geology of New York is an epitome of that of the 
world, though it contains some details as well as numerous objects 
not known in Europe. Our chalk and oolite beds are wanting ; 
but at some hundreds of miles distance green sand is to be seen, 
rich in fossils, scaphites, &c., three times the size of ours. In 
Minnesota, about seventeen hundred miles from hence (south-west 
of Lake Superior), exists a tract one hundred miles in extent, 
called by the Indians, Mauvaise Terre — ' The bad country ' — and 
well does it merit that appellation. It consists of clay mountains, 
placed side by side like huge ant-hills, wholly bare of vegetation 
— not from infertility, but because their component parts are so 
little coherent, that rain and torrents wash them clean of verdure, 
whenever it makes its appearance during a spell of dry weather. 
Fine specimens of animal remains — tortoises, turtles, &c., are 
found at the base of these clay hills. The curator of the Museum, 
Mr. Hubbard, has given me a very curious recent fish from Lake 
Champlain, deeply interesting as the only lingering denizen of 
6* 



130 THE SLAVE PROBLEM. 

those early periods of the world when fishes wore their bones es 
ternally instead of internally. This creature looks like an ante- 
diluvian, with his enamelled exterior and his "bony tail. I think 
he must have been a hard morsel, even for the digestion of an 
ichthyosaurus. He is called here the gar alligator. Mr. Hurst, 
one of the naturalists belonging to this Museum, has invented a 
beautiful manner of preserving fish, reptiles, &c., so as to make 
spirits unnecessary, and greatly to facilitate the examination of 
them. But so much arsenic is requisite for the process, that his 
hands are excoriated, while his complexion is improved by its 
poisonous fumes. The Governor has kindly given me a trout, 
which is an admirable specimen of this ingenious mode of prepa- 
ration. 

Nov. 11. — For once, I enjoy a pouring wet day, as it gives 
me time to arrange a chaos of seeds, plants, shells, and stones, 
which I have collected during my rapid western tour, and to look 
over the fine Hortus Siccus, arranged by Dr. Torrey, in fifty vol- 
umes, for the Museum. As it is of course confined to the flora 
of New York, I have many specimens not included ; but it ena- 
bles me to determine some which have embarrassed me. I saw 
an alligator alive, and some curious little turtles and tortoises ; 
the latter are common hereabouts, and I am promised a pet, in 
the shape of a small tortoise which has the faculty of shutting 
itself up like a box : it is a vegetarian, quite gentle, hardy, and 
long lived. If my favourite puss does not take umbrage at him, 
he will be a clean, innocent, happy favourite. The snapping tor- 
toise is larger, and quite a savage beast. There was a live snake 
in a box, but I declined his acquaintance. I was surprised to see 
the wild turkey so much larger than the domesticated ; his plu- 
mage, too, is finer — almost resembling that of a peacock. 

I begin to feel quite excited by the ups and downs of the 
State election ; for though all the votes were taken in one day 
(the 7th), the various towns and districts send their numbers 
dribbling in, so that though Governor Seymour has never been 
without a general majority, yet the whole is extremely fluctua- 
ting ; and as yet his fate remains undecided. 1 had a long talk 



SLAVERY. 131 

with him about the Slavery question, and was much impressed by 
his calm and statesmanlike views : he is as desirous as any man 
can be, to see slavery abolished; but he sensibly says, that, 
like most other things in connexion with the general welfare, it 
is to be considered with reference to political economy ; and that 
in our enthusiastic headlong anxiety to do justice to the black 
race, we have surely (though quite unintentionally) delayed its 
freedom. This is, I believe, the opinion of Dr. Howe, and other 
enlightened philanthropists. Twenty- six years ago New York 
was a Slave State. How has the curse been shaken off ? Not 
by stringent laws and ill-judged prohibitions, but by the intro- 
duction of free labour, which rendered that of bondage expensive 
and inconvenient — though it does not improve the condition. The 
wisest people say, that Slavery was on the point of extinguishing 
itself in the South, when, by rendering the supply piratical, the 
value of the article was so raised in the market, that it became a 
a profitable concern to grow slaves. As Governor Seymour 
graphically explains the matter : — ' If the early settler wanted. to 
buy beef, he must buy the whole ox — ^hide, horns, and tail ; then 
comes a time when he can procure a quarter ; and at last, as 
population increases, he can go to market and purchase a beef- 
steak, or any joint most pleasing to his taste. Now the same 
thing occurs in the case of labour, which, after all, is a marketa- 
ble commodity. At first it may be necessary to take the whole 
man ; then you can hire part of a man ; and in du3 time you 
may be able to get so much of the time of a man as may just suit 
your purpose, without being burthened by his infancy or his old 
age.' Thus we, who have been seeking to check the institution 
of Slavery by violent means, have unintentionally been prolong- 
ing it ; but time will repair this mistake, by rendering the pos- 
session of slaves an expensive mode of cultivation — that is, if cot- 
ton can be cultivated without it. Slavery existed and does exist 
in Africa, and in a more suffering and degraded form than that 
of the West Indies, or of the American Southern States. The 
slaves benefited by their change of servitude ; that was a first step 
towards ultimate freedom ; and if, when a sufficient number had 



132 THE AMERICAN CLERGY. 

been imported^ their labour had been natnrally rendered of less 
value by the introduction of others, Slavery would quickly have 
abolished itself ; but anti-slavery laws checked the natural course 
of Providence : slave-labour increased, and the chain of the Afri- 
can was riveted by his intended emancipator. Another practical 
exemplification of an * ill-judging friend being worse than an 
enemy.' 

We dined out to-day— a pleasant dinner ; the only peculiarity 
was the name of each intended occupant being placed on the table 
opposite every chair. Codfish appears to me more delicate here 
than upon our coasts ; but in general I do not think American 
fish equal those of the English shores. I have now tasted white 
fish, black fish, masquelongi, and salmon. The masquelongi is a 
fresh-water fish, plentiful in the Rice Lake. It appears to me a 
superior kind of pike. 

Sunday^ Nov. 12. — We went to the church still served by Dr. 
Potter, the new Bishop of New York, who does not give up his 
duty till after his consecration. He is a kind and agreeable, as 
well as a good man ; and I never heard our service with greater 
pleasure : it was so admirably arranged and read here, that I 
could not help contrasting it with the church at Toronto, where 
the service was conducted in a heavy, tedious way. Election re- 
turns still incomplete ; the majority supposed to be for the present 
Governor \ but no one can give certain information. 

Albany, November 13. — One circumstance is to be observed 
of the American Episcoi)alian clergymen, and, as far as I have 
been able to remark, the same thing may be said of the Presby- 
terian, — that they all read well, without the nasal tone or the 
peculiar pronunciation of the North-eastern States. It is a pity 
that civilians, especially diplomatic men, do not imitate their 
clergy in this matter. I think the latter, as a body, superior to 
ours. Among those whose churches I have attended, two minis- 
ters, educated and ordained upon our side the Atlantic, both good 
men, were pompous and tedious in the reading-desk and pulpit. 
And we must confess that not many in England either rend oi 
Tjreach in an attractive manner. On Saturday, the Governor took 



THE PENITENTIARY. 183 

me to see an excellent Penitentiary belonging to this district. 
The house has been lately built after the plan of the superin- 
tendent, Mr. Pillsbury, a man who possesses the qualities of firm- 
ness, order, and benevolence in a high degree. The cells are 
arranged in a way differing from what I have hitherto seen. An 
oblong block of three or four storeys (the upper ones reached by 
exterior staircases and galleries, capable of accommodating 185 
people) is placed within a large kind of hall admirably ventilated ; 
every cell has an iron bedstead, and those of the women a chair. 
The large door of iron grating which closes each, is so constructed 
as to admit sufficient light and air. All are shut by the same 
mechanical process, managed by an iron bar, which runs the whole 
length of the block, and even if any one is by accident left un- 
locked, the door cannot be opened. About three hundred pris- 
oners, male and female, are now confined here — all for short terms: 
those under long convictions are taken to other prisons. These 
people are sentenced for a period of about three months ; many 
of them for a shorter time. We found the men at work in two 
large workshops, one entirely devoted to making cane-bottomed 
chairs, the other harness. All were busily engaged ; not one 
lifted an eye or spoke a word. In the women's ward, there was 
more variety of employment; washing, ironing, mending, and 
cooking — but no speaking. One haggard looking crone of more 
than eighty years of age, here for the fourth time, looked the per- 
sonification of incorrigibility. Some few men were at work in 
the grounds, which having to be newly laid out, afford much pro- 
mise of occupation ; and it has sometimes happened that emanci- 
pated prisoners have entreated for employment there. Mr. Pills- 
bury's success appears to be owing to his unflinching will and 
determined discipline; to the strict enforcement of cleanliness, 
ai]d, above all, to the influence of love which this kind man brings 
to bear upon his prisoners, for his heart seems to be of the most 
tender mould. Yet I could wish that the tongues of these unfor- 
tunate ones might be a little loosed, just so much as is allowed by 
the Grovernor of the gaol at Munich without being followed by 
evil consequences. There, the prisoners are permitted to speak 



134 INDIAN THANKSGIVING. 

on matters connected with tlieir labour, but if that liberty is 
abused, they are made to work alone. Upon the entrance of a 
prisoner here, he is told he must be industrious, never look up 
from his work, and keep silence, and that if he conforms to these 
rules, he will be well fed and kindly treated ; he usually conforms 
immediately. The house has been erected, and all expenses of 
the establishment are defrayed, by the profits which accrue from 
the prisoners' labour. 

Near Utica there has long been a white rock held as a sacred 
stone by the Indians. This veneration was owing to its being a 
kind of sienite unique in the district. As its situation was near a 
spot lately formed into a cemetery, Mr. Seymour proposed that 
this stone should be removed there to save it from destruction, 
and to show sympathy for Indian feelings. An agreement with 
them was made for that purpose ; they also being allowed the 
liberty of interment in the grounds ; and the stone may be seen 
now on a mound at the cemetery. 

After the election of the present Grovernor, a chief came to 
Albany, to prefer some request to him. Being an Oneidan, he 
spoke of his tribe. Mr. Seymour kindly replying, said — ' I also 
am an Oneidan, for my residence is at Utica.' The Indians de- 
signated the local Governors as their ^ Father,' and the President 
as their ' Great Father.' But upon Mr. Seymour making this 
i-emark, the Chief quickly and gracefully changed the term of 
relationship. ' My Brother then is an Oneidan ; he will feel for 
the wants of his Brethren.' Although the Indians may speak and 
understand English, and when not conducting a diplomatic inter- 
view will converse in our language, yet in formal intercourse with 
the Governors or Governments, they will only carry it on through 
an interpreter, bearing in mind the view of preserving their dig- 
nity and nationality. I believe they are now very kindly and 
considerately treated by the United States. Their religion is a 
pure Theism ; and some of those we call the Pagan Indians are, 
alus ! superior in Christian conduct to the converted ; for tho 
latter practise the vices of cheating and drunkenness, while the 
former are simple, pure, and sober, until contaminated by the 



ORIGIN OF PARTY NAMES. 135 

white man. They believe in a great creating, superintending 
Spirit, who rewards the good and punishes the evil in a future 
life ; and they have public meetings for prayer and thanksgiving. 
One is called the ' Feast of Strawberries,' when they assemble to 
offer up thanks to the Grreat Griver of all good for the returning 
crop of that berry ; and there are other periods of general thanks- 
giving for a sufficiency of game and for the fruits of the earth. 
Thus they acknowledge the unity, omnipresence, and omniscience 
of the Deity ; the freewill, responsibility, and immortality of man ; 
and these truths being known and assented to by the American 
Indians, Christianity is received and accepted by them without 
much difficulty, as a further dispensation and message from the 
Universal Father. 

From the Governor of New York I have inquired and learned 
the meaning of party terms which have before puzzled me — such 
as Adamantines, Hard-shells, Soft-shells, Loco-focos, Rick-burners, 
and Pollywogs. It seems these names are highly figurative — 
they have originated in casual expressions made use of by public 
speakers which have happened to hit the fancy of the hearers, so 
that they become cant terms. A Democrat in this country is 
synonymous with a Whig or Liberal in England, while he who is 
denominated Whig here, is really a Tory or Conservative. The 
latter party advocate prohibitions, and tariffs, and interference of 
the Central Government with local improvements; while the 
Democrats are free-traders, and promoters of self-government in 
each State. They say that railroads, and harbours, and bridges, 
and canals, can be formed and conducted at less expense and more 
advantageously on the spot, than when planned and directed by 
the Central Government from a distance of many hundred miles, 
where they are apt to degenerate into jobs. Upon some occasion, 
when the moderate Democrats were accused of yielding rather 
too much to the views of their opponents, a wag, during his 
address to a popular assembly, said : * Now I think these politi- 
cians are blowing hot and cold ; they are too much like crabs when 
in a state of transition between the soft and the hard shell. I 
am for the whole hog — I am a Hard-shell.' And another said, 



136 ALBANY. 

' They are Pollywogs' (the Indian name for tadpoles). So with 
the Loco-focos, of which party the Barn-burners were an extreme, 
Now I understand the meaning of the following curious paragraph 
in one of the local papers some weeks ago : ' The organ of the 
Hard-shell Democrats says that orders have been sent from 
Washington, enjoining all persons holding ofl&ce under the Central 
Govern Li-ent to keep away from the approaching Soft-shell Con- 
vention at Syracuse ; for this reason it is anticipated the Barn- 
burners will have control of the convention, and pass anti-Ne- 
braska resolutions.' The peculiar circumstances which gave origin 
to the Loco-foco and Barn-burner, are these ; during an assemblage 
of Democrats, some who wished to disperse the meeting obtained 
command of the gas-pipes, with an intention of throwing darkness 
over the deliberations of the said 'convention;' but the Hard- 
shells, getting a hint of this plot, provided themselves with 
lucifer-matches and candles, and when the gas went out suddenly, 
they soon re-illuminated their proceedings. Hence they were 
called Loco-focos ; and an ultra Loco-foco was taunted with the 
sobriquet of Barn-burner. 

We dined yesterday at a very pretty and well-arranged house, 
belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Pompelly — an Italian name, which has 
been spoiled by the substitution of an English termination. The 
dinner was much like one in London, except that the hour was 
six instead of eight. I sat by an American Major- General, who 
has travelled much in Europe. From his countenance and 
manner, I should have supposed him Bavarian; but this city 
contains a great mixture of the varying national characteristics 
of Europe. In one quarter Germans are so numerous, that 
the signs and designations of the shops and eating-houses are in 
German. Many also of the respectable inhabitants there still 
speak Dutch; French is less common, but the American, Scotch, 
Irish, and English blood is mixed up in tolerably equal proportions, 
and in a short time all these heterogeneous elements will be hap- 
pily amalgamated. 

To-day I went to visit the library — a handsome and convenient 
building, well supplied with valuable and useful books ; and after- 



A PATERNAL GOVERNOR. 137 

■R-arcls the Governor introduced me to the studio of Palmer — a 
sculptor of evident taste and talent, who has hitherto depended 
upon the inspiration of his own mind, rather than upon the study 
of ancient art. Near a spot chiefly inhabited by Dutch settlers, I 
endeavoured to make a sketch of Albany with the distant moun- 
tains, and an extensive view of the Hudson River ; but my fingers 
soon became so benumbed by cold, that I had not much success. 
The weather continues very like winter in England, but no de- 
cided snow here at present. 

November 16. — Yesterday was nearly all passed in visiting^ 
to return the civility of those who have called, or given me invi- 
tations. I entered a great many houses. The reception rooms are 
generally on the ground floor, handsomely fitted up, usually co- 
vered by English or French carpets, but extremely dark. They 
are commonly kept very warm by stoves, or rather furnaces, be- 
low. I only saw one open fireplace, in which the fuel was a kind 
of anthracite coal. The houses are good, almost always entered 
by a single flight of stone steps ; from three to four rooms on a 
floor, but these rooms have a bare, unhomelike appearance to an 
English eye, from the absence of books, and work, and writing 
materials ; they look as if in use only for company. We had an 
agreeable small dinner-party at home — the Bishop of New York ; 
Mr. Hall, the palaeontologist, and his wife ; Mr. Johnson, a judge ; 
and one or two more. It is believed that the re-election of the 
present Governor is secure. I rejoice in this, as an indication that 
good common sense, after all, prevails over an ill-regulated en- 
thusiasm. The other day, a young man received his pardon from 
Mr. Seymour, after a short imprisonment. In such a case he 
usually sees the offender upon his liberation ; and he gave this 
youth some friendly advice upon the danger of intemperate habits. 
The man looked surprised, and exclaimed : ' Why, sir, I had been 
told you were all for liquor, and you don't look like one who 
cares for it.' ' Remember,' was the reply, ' that no human law 
can make a man good. He must learn self-control, and be ac- 
tuated by principle. If laws would have prevented you from get- 
ting into mischief, you would not have been sent to prison.' 



138 FROCLAMATION. ' . ^ 

One day is annually set apart by tlie custom of each State for 
a general thanksgiving. Here is an example of the form and 
manner in which this is done. The Grovernor for the time being 
selects a day, and then issues his Proclamation, which is published 
in all the papers : — 

PROCLAMATION. 

By Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York. 

An acknowledgment of onr dependence upon God, and of our obligation 
to Him, is at all times the duty of a Christian People, But when the Al- 
niio-hty has again crowned the year with his goodness, and we are enjoying 
the gathered fruits of His bounty, it is eminently fitting that we should offer the 
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. 

I therefore appoint Thursday, the 30th day of November, for this appro- 
priate service ; and invite the citizens of the State to assemble on that day in 
their respective places of worship, to present their acknowledgments to the 
Parent of the Universe for his multiplied mercies. And with our thanksgiving 
let us mingle prayers for a continuance of the numberless blessings we, as a 
people, enjoy, remembering that His wisdom alone can rightly direct, His 
power support, and His goodness give strength and security. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and af- 
[l. s.] fixed the private seal of the State, at the City of Albany, this 10th 
day of November, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Four. 

HORATIO SEYMOUR. 
By the Governor. H. W. De Puy, 

Private Secretary. 

. In driving down one of the streets here, my attention was at- 
tracted by the Manx Arms — the three legs — as a sign over a 
tailor's shop. I was sure the occupant must be a native of the 
Isle of Man, and on our return I requested to stop the carriage, 
that I might ask a question. Upon going into the house I found 
a man busily employed upon a coat. ' You are a Manxman, I 
am certain ? ' ' To be sure I am,' was the answer ; ' but who are 
you ? ' The tailor and the tailor's wife and daughter were de- 
li o-hted to hear the name of Murray, and to find I had been at 
Jurby, about four miles from Bishop's Court, where the man was 
born : he has been nineteen years in America ; he says he has 



YOUTHFUL HEROISM. 139 

got on pretty well, but that he works harder than he did at home. 
I was invited to tea, and though I could not accept the invitation, 
it gave me pleasure to see that my visit was fully appreciated. I 
have made a sketch of Bishop's Court, for this my friend, (Mr. 
Crow,) from memory ; and as he maintains it to be the most beau- 
tiful place in the world, I think the remembrance will be valued. 

Albany, Novemher 17. — Mr. Seymour and his opponent arc 
still running neck to neck, although we have several times sup- 
posed the affair settled; this election has been more fluctuating 
and longer about than any I ever heard of, not entirely owing to 
the great extent of territory concerned — for all the votes were 
taken at the different places in one day ; but they have been very 
long coming in here. At New York, and I think I may say in 
all the enlightened cities, Seymour has an overwhelming majority, 
but the distant counties and towns vote for Myron Clark, and it 
is now believed they will elect him by a trifling majority. The 
numbers to-day are 132,264 for Seymour — 131,111 for Clark; 
there are, however, a few more returns to come in, which may be 
in favour of the latter. 

November 18. — We spent yesterday evening quietly, drinking 
tea with Mrs. S 's sister, w'ho lives nearly opposite : her in- 
terest and excitement at the present moment are naturally great, 
as a change of Governors will separate this family. Our weather 
to-day promises to be clear and fine ; we have had hardly anything 
but gloomy, wet, cold days since I arrived here ten days ago. 
Perhaps we shall go to New York this afternoon. I have heard 

of the arrival of my Virginian friend. Miss Gr , from England, 

and I hope to meet her there. A mere child, named Eli Kheem, 
has performed an act of heroism worthy of more years and of 
noblest times. I have cut the details out of a trustworthy print 
— for this deed deserves te be celebrated as evincing a courage 
which throws that of warriors into the shade. 



140 A NOBLE BOY. 

A NOBLE BOY. 

RESCUE OF A PASSENGER TRAIN FROM CERTAIN DESTRUOTIOW. 

We mentioned a few days since the burning of the Tunnel Bridge, on the 
Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad, about five miles south of York and 
since learn that the conflagration came very near being followed by one of the 
most terrible disasters that has lately occurred in railroad travel. It is sup- 
posed that the bridge took fire from the freight trains which passed about half- 
past seven o'clock in the moi-ning, and the structure was totally enveloped in 
flames before it was discovered by the residents in the vicinity. At about nine 
o'clock the frame-work of the bridge fell through, and among the spectators, 
some twenty in number, was a little boy about twelve years of age, named Eli 
Rheem, who, remembering that the express train was then about due from 
York, started off at the top of his speed to endeavour to stop the train, which 
he knew must be close at hand. As soon as he reached the curve, about two 
hundred yards from the bridge, he observed the train coming at fuU speed, and 
fearing that he would be unable to stop them unless by the use of extraordi- 
nary means, the noble little fellow took his position on the track, and running 
towards the approaching train with his hands raised, caught the attention of 
the engineer, who immediately reversed his engine, and stopped within four 
hundred yards of impending destruction, the piers being some twenty feet from 
the rocky bed below, and the gap some sixty feet wide. Had the boy not 
placed himself on the track, he would doubtless have failed in his noble effort, 
as the engineers are so often cheated by mischievous boys on the route that 
they seldom pay any attention to them. Even when he stopped, he thought he 
had been cheated by a youngster with more daring than his associates, and was 
surprised to see the little flaxen-headed fellow stand his ground, and endea- 
vouring to recover his lost breath, to answer his questions as to the cause of 
his interruption. We learned that the passengers, when they ascertained the 
cause of the stoppage of the trrdn, and viewed the precipice over which they 
were near being dashed, liberally rewarded the boy for his presence of mind and 
daring, and that the Board of Directors, at their meeting yesterday, appro- 
priated 100 dollars as an additional recompense. Eli Rheem, a boy but twelve 
years of age, was the only one of twenty persons present, most of them men, 
who had forethought sufficient for the occasion. — Bolt' American. 

The name of Rheem leads one to suppose that this gallant 
little fellow must be of Dutch origin ; I shall be glad if England 
can claim the originating of his parentage. Alas ! for the hor- 
rors of war contrasting with the peaceful triumph of this child ! 
Our brave soldiers sacrificed, to sacrifice those who under difi'erent 



COJIMUNITY OF SHAKERS. 141 

Clrctoflasiances tt"hej would die to save ! I dread looking at the 
English news, Evt>ry mail now brings Borrowful intelligence of 
the fall of some young man who, if not a relative of my own, is 
the darling of some house and home for which I feel an interest. 
What does not that Russian deserve ? I trust he will some day 
be shut up as a madman, unfit to be trusted with a knife ; and 
then perhaps his wretched serfs may learn that Christianity does 
not teach them war. To-day the Governor and Mrs. Seymour 
took me to see a community of Shakers, who live about ten miles 
from this place ; they appear to be a harmless industrious set of 
people, a kind of Quaker Order of Monks and Nuns, who feed 
well, set a good example as to morality and neatness, and eschew 
as a crime everything approaching to beauty and elegance. We 
had some excellent bread and cheese, saw them make their useful 
brooms, and bought some of their delicate baskets, in the manu- 
facture of which the line of beauty has unconsciously introduced 
itself. Kind Brother Frederick, the ruler of the establishment, 
showed us all over it. A Shaker village has one great advantage 
over all monastic communities — no vows are imposed, and the 
freedom of egress is perfectly unshackled. We drove through a 
high sandy district, with scattered woods of birch and yellow pine, 
the ground diversified by low hills, with extensive views of distant 
mountains and the Hudson River. In passing through Albany, 
I was shown some old Dutch houses, constructed of bricks which 
were actually brought here from Holland ! Now, the great majorit}^ 
of buildings are of brick made on the spot. In this neighbourhood 
the usual snake fences, made with as large a quantity of timber 
as can be put into them, about six feet high, are beginning to be 
rare : the divisions consist of fences straight and regular ; once it 
was considered a beauty to have as many fences as possible, now 
a contrary opinion prevails hereabouts. In new clearings, glaring 
white houses, with green or red blinds are still considered the best 
taste — ^naturally enough ; for in the dark forest they were more 
visible, and spoke of comfort and civilization : now some taste for 
architecture is spriugiag up in cities and their environs. Mr. 
Seymour drove me in a light open carriage, universal in America : 



142 THE LETTER OF THE LAW. 

it has wlieels exceedingly high in proportion to the size of the 
body. These ' wagons ' are certainly airy and slight, and conse- 
quently plunge into the hollows and holes of the tracks without 
risk. We had a bright sun, and as the wind was quiet I did not 
mind cold ; but it was very cold. 

November 19 — Sunday. — I believe that my journey to New 
York is likely to be delayed yet for days. Some gentlemen who 
came in last night, say that the voting is so close, that although 
State officers are now busy in investigation, it will require an- 
other week before the result can be declared ; and even then the 
present Governor, if he should lose, would really have a majority ; 
because a large number of votes have been given with the initial 
H., instead of Horatio, which invalidates them. The Shakers, 
too, wish for him ; but the silly people consider it against their 
principles to make use of their votes. I wonder whether you in 
England will feel any interest in this election for my Anierican 
friend ; or whether you will be vexed that so many pages of my 
paper are devoted to New York politics. This packet will proba- 
bly be sent off before the knotty point is made straight, so either 
way you will not get the conclusion until another mail. Though 
interested, my mind is not at all decided as to whether I really 
wish the present Governor to be in for another year or not. I 
should not like him to be beat. Yet I think the good effects of 
his rule will tell upon his successor, who, I understand, is much 
his inferior in education and talent ; and rest will be good for my 
friend, while he and Mrs. Seymour will be more at liberty to 
make our proposed forests excursions next year. I shall remain 
until the matter is settled ; for as they kindly wish to be my 
guides in New York, should we go there whilst the decision is 
pending, Mr. Seymour's visit there will be ascribed to political 
motives, which would be unpleasant to him. 

After the service this morning, the Bishop-elect of New York 
baptized two children, one about four, the other rather more than 
a year old ; the ceremony took place at the Oommunion-rail under 
the pulpit — the water being blessed on the reading-desk. The 
father and mother with their eldest child, alone stood and knelt 



PROBABILITIES. 143 

at the rail ; tlie other attendants remained in pews. I like tlie 
custom of allowing parents to be sponsors for their own children. 
The service was much the same as ours. But as after being bap- 
tized, the youngest child was inclined to be loquacious, he was at 
once taken out of the church by the person who carried him in 
her arms. I observed no particular smartness of dress on this 
occasion, either for the children or their attendants. 

The Governor has just proposed that Mrs. Seymour and I 
shall go together to New York to-morrow ; and if business per- 
mits, he will follow in the course of a day or two. So we shall 
start by the eleven o'clock train, and go to the St. Nicholas Hotel. 
I shall probably not extend my stay at New York much beyond 
a week ; and letters in future must be addressed to the care of 
Mr. Crampton, our minister at "Washington. He is the most 
likely person to know my whereabouts ; and he will, I daresay, 
forward communications from home during the winter, or as long 
as I remain in the Southern States. 

Your affectionate 

A. M. M. 



LETTEE Xin. 



NEW YORK 



Nkw York, November 25, 1854 

My dear Friends,— 

After travelling 2685 miles, here we are at New York. 
Since our arrival, on the 19tb, I have not had time to write more 
than a few lines, which went by yesterday's mail to my nieces. I 
had a pleasant journey by rail down the beautiful Hudson ; for 
the greater part of the way the line actually runs through the 
water ; as between the range of the Catskills on one side, and the 
rocky shore on the other, it was much easier to form a road on 
piles, where the water is not very deep, than to tunnel and batter 
a course for the trains through the rocks : at one spot where we 
did go through them, a red flag brought us up for a few minutes, 
owing to some of the boundary having fallen in the night. Mrs. 
Seymour, her niece, and some gentlemen, accompanied me from 
Albany : the Governor has now arrived also, but it was not in his 
power to come down on Monday. This Hotel of St. Nicholas is 
quite a palace ; its only fault being that the gorgeous silk furni- 
ture, mirrors, and carpets, are rather in the extreme of mag- 
nificence ; however, the rooms are comfortable. I have a hot and 
cold bath attached to my bedroom : and as I happened to be 
rather ill yesterday (for the first time since I crossed the Atlantic), 
I found the warm bath an excellent remedy, and one which, if it 
had not been so conveniently placed, I should probably have gone 



THE BROADWAY. 1^5 

without. Tuesday last was spent in shopping amt visits. On 
"Wednesday the consecration of my friend Dr. Potter, the new 
Bishop of New York, took place ; I saw much of him at Albany, 
still as yet his residence. The ceremony was one of much more 
importance than that upon like occasions in England. Twelve 
bishops and one, hundred and sixty clergy attended, besides two 
hundred students of divinity. It was performed in a pretty new 
church called Trinity, Early Perpendicular in style; all the 
windows edged and surmounted with painted glass, which, though 
not of the most perfect design and colouring, is still far better 
than common. The' music was good, and I observed no great 
difference from our consecration service, excepting that the new 
bishop is robed in front of the Communion-table, a custom which 
has always prevailed in America, but which, I think, detracted 
from the solemnity of the occasion. In the evening I was invited 
to meet all the bishops and a large number of the clergy. It 
was a pleasant party ; and I recognized the Bishop of Vermont, 
who received me with kindness on Lake Champiain. The conse- 
cration deed of Dr. Potter, designed and beautifully illuminated 
by a young lady, was on a table of mediaeval appearance. I was 
introduced to Bishop Fulford, who was absent during my visit to 

Montreal. He preached in the morning. Thursday, Mr. D , 

one of my American friends on board the Canada^ took me to 
see many places in the city, and from the steeple summit of 
Trinity Church I gained a good idea of New York, with its 
rivers, islands, and environs ; the ground it is built upon is 
almost insular — ^perhaps three or four miles in width, and fourteen 
in length, Broadway nearly dividing it in half. This street is 
something between our Strand and Oxford-street, rather wider 
than the former, quite as full of traffic as either ; but then we 
must bear in mind that this is the only great artery of New 
York. We drove in an omnibus through Broadway to what is 
considered the aristocratic quarter — for it must be remarked that 
people here are not at all less exclusive than in London — only 
the differences of rank and wealth are evinced by more minute 
and elaborate attention to dress, and to trifling conventionalities, 
7 



146 GREENWOOD CEMETERY. 

than with us. I have been surprised to hear some men of busi- 
ness, but of wealth, assert that cultivation of the fine arts is a 
proof of national effeminacy ! American ladies bestow those 
hours of leisure, which English women of the same class give to 
drawing, to the study of nature, and to mental cultivation, almost 
wholly on personal adornment. Although it must be admitted 
that owing to the bad training of their servants, ladies on this 
side the Atlantic are compelled to look closely into the details of 
domestic economy, yet it is odd that they are generally far less 
competent to the performance of every-day and sick-room duties 
than the daughters of our noblest houses in Great Britain ; ?bnd 
so long as girls here devote a whole hour for every ten minutes 
allowed by us to the toilet, they have no right to make domestic 
affairs an excuse for want of general information. Of course 
there are brilliant exceptions ; but I fear the national character 
of women in the United States more resembles that of self-in- 
dulgent Asiatics than of energetic Anglo-Saxons. And, as far 
as I can judge, their children are not being reared in better 
habits. Human nature is prone to extremes ; and these facts ex- 
plain why some individuals desirous of improvement, have fallen 
into a mistaken imitation of manly character instead of cultivat- 
ing feminine duties. Yesterday we dined with Mr. and Mrs. 
Bancroft, at their house in 22nd-street. Not having the organ of 
' Number,' I am rather plagued by having numeral streets, in ad- 
dition to the customary numbering of doors ; and 8th street west 
and 28th street east (No. 8, perhaps), make a terrible hubbub in 
my memory. — The 23rd of November was a very wet day, and I 
did not go out. — Saturday, November 25th, Mrs. Seymour took 
me so see Greenwood Cemetery, which is extensive, and beauti- 
fully situated on the heights of Brooklyn. But the general 
appearance of this place is injured by a custom of using upright 
white stone posts as boundaries for the several family burying- 
ing grounds. I have remarked this at all the cemeteries, except- 
ing those of Boston and Toronto. Auburn Cemetery, belonging 
to the former city, is much the most agreeable and soothing place 
of interment, from its quiet and unassuming, as well as pictnrepque 



147 

scenery. Glare and grief are antagonistic, and intrusive objects 
should not meet an eye still dim with tears ; each spot of ground 
consecrated to family affection should be securely, but almost 
invisibly guarded from intrusion. Among the monuments in 
New York Cemetery, that which marks the burying-place of fire- 
men is specially interesting. It is crowned by the statue of a 
noble spirit, who perished in his endeavour to rescue a child. In 
one hand he holds a speaking-trumpet ; his other arm clasps the 
infant, as with a firm, but apparently hurried step, and upturned 
head, he endeavours to reach security and meets death. I accom- 
panied a party to see the Governor review the militia regiments 
of New York. These, like the yeomanry of England, are volun- 
teers ; men (even in the ranks) of property and consideration. 
English, French, Dutch, Americans, Irish, Scotch, banded 
together as far as possible according to their several national 
feelings and peculiarities, but each individual merging his national 
loyalty in one common enthusiasm for the protection of the coun- 
try he has permanently adopted ; — meet upon a day which is here 
known by the name of ' Evacuation Day,' to make a grand 
demonstration of this unity of sentiment; and, although their 
troops were not so compact and well-drilled as regulars, yet as a 
body of five or six thousand men, not called out for more than 
three days in a year, they are much to be admired ; and one regi- 
ment, all dressed in bluish grey, manoeuvred with great precision. 
I did not feel my own national amour propre the least 
wounded upon this occasion. We may now rejoice over the 
' evacuation' with as hearty good will as the Americans them- 
selves, and at the same time feel a rational degree of pride t ■ at 
old England sent forth, and originally nurtured, such promisiig 
citizens for the New World. Although the Governor of Now 
York is Commander-in-chief, and a staff of officers in full regi- 
mentals surround him, he wears no uniform, but always appears 
the civil officer of the State. Mr. Seymour reviewed these troops 
in front of the City Hall, with as much tranquillity of manner 
and simple dignity as might have been evinced by any one of the 
most experienced of our public men. It is impossible to find 



148 REV. H. W. BEECIIER. 

more entire freedom from self-consciousness in any man, while the 
claims of duty and kindness are never put out of sight or omitted 
by him. 

On Sunday I went to a chapel in Brooklyn to hear the 
brother of Mrs. Beecher Stowe preach to a very crowded congre- 
gation. His sermon was one of great eloquence and originality ; 
in style and manner too familiar to suit English ideas : but it was 
eminently practical, and so much of truth and wisdom was to be 
culled out of a somewhat rugged and informal chain of argu- 
ment, that no eye slumbered and no person's attention flagged 
during a very long discourse. 

November 27. — This morning I breakfasted with Mr. and 

Mrs. B , to meet several agreeable people, among them the 

preacher, Mr. H. W. Beecher. I liked his earnest, powerful 
mind ; although upon the topics of slavery and prohibitory laws, 
I doubted his arguments. In the afternoon, the Governor, Mrs. 
Seymour, and I visited print-shops and galleries. He wished 
much to see Sir Edwin Landseer's picture of ' The Twins,' but it 
had been just packed up and sent off to Boston. 

November 28. — We all breakfasted with Miss Lynch the 
poetess; we had there another pleasant party, and again Mr. 
Beecher, whose discussions with the Governor upon social sub- 
jects were very interesting. I forgot to mention the opera last 
night — Grisi and Mario : the latter sang to perfection ; Grisi less 
rich and powerful in tone than I remember her formerly, but still 
wonderful. Mr. D took me to visit a gentlemanly and intel- 
ligent young man, by trade a coachmaker, who seems to have tra 
veiled and observed nature more than is common in this land of 
business ; and in his possession I saw one of those curious eyeless 
fish from the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. It is preserved in 
spirits, about the size and somewhat of the form of a fresh- water 
perch, about five inches long. I thought there was a faint mark 
on the spots where eyes usually are, but nothing more : and a 
small kind of cray-fish from the same locality was also deficient 
in visual organs. I shall probably go to that Cave, when I may 
procure specimens ; and I shall try to get one preserved without 



PHILANTHROPIC INSTITUTIONS. 14C 

spirits. The rest of my day was taken up by necessary social 
visits ; but I saw various parts of the town. 

Wednesday^ November 29. — I went with the Governor to 
view all the Philanthropic and Penal establishments, which, much 
to the credit, the generosity, and the good feeling of New York 
State, have been founded and organized upon the two Islands of 
Randall and Blackwell. The East lliver pours down in rapid 
torrents on either side of these islands, so as to add security, as 
well as to contribute to the salubrity of these establishments. A 
four-oared boat took us off about seven miles from the city. We 
first landed upon Randall Island, where there is a very large 
Refuge just opened for delinquents ; and there the great pauper 
establishments for children, and also an Emigrant's Home, are 
situated. Eight hundred happy-looking orderly boys marched 
about to the time of their own drums and fifes, forming a young 
regiment. They manoeuvred with more precision, and dressed 
their lines more evenly, than the troops we saw reviewed on Fri- 
day. Their commander and drill sergeant was an idiot man 
about forty. He has the love and the strict obedience of his chil- 
dren, although upon every subject excepting military discipline 
his mind is a blank. It was pleasing to see the innocent enjoy- 
ment of this poor general and his youug soldiers. One point of 
sympathy links them together ; may they remain warriors of love 
rather than of contention — the teachers and the learners of Chris- 
tian obedience and of religious duty. The girls (about six hun- 
dred) appeared to be equally well trained and cheerful in their 
several occupations. In no institution have I ever seen cleanli- 
ness and order more complete and perfect than in these. The 
quarter for emigrants also gave rise to feelings of satisfaction. It 
is open to all destitute strangers during any period not exceeding 
five years from their first arrival on these shores. Six hundred 
infants, upon an average, are yearly born within its precincts. 
We saw mothers and infants well nursed and cared for — occupa- 
tion for the industrious, training for the idle ; and all appeared 
quiet and contented in their temporary home. I heard of very 
little sickness — only five or six cases of cholera ; but there are 



150 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS. 

hospitals for children with chronic diseases — one ward full of 
whooping-cough patients, and another where a few were sick with 
feverish complaints, all thoroughly ventilated, and apparently all 
made as comfortable as circumstances would admit. On Black- 
well Island we saw a large and " excellent Asylum for the Insane, 
. a Pauper House of Industry, and a Penal establishment — good in 
their several ways. On the two islands there is a population of 
ten thousand — children, women, and men — destitute, sick, or sin- 
ful. Nowhere can one find a spirit of more generous and en- 
lightened charity than that evinced by these and the other phil- 
anthropic institutions of New York. A great variety of shipping 
and numerous steamers are constantly passing down the river on 
each side. The sight of these, manoeuvring through its shoals 
and rapids, must be a constant source of amusement and interest 
to the island denizens. I saw a steamboat which whirled down 
with a marvellous rapidity, and numerous sailing-vessels were 
tacking backwards and forwards, preparing to pass through that 
' Hell-gate ' on the river where an English frigate was once 
wrecked. This appellation was derived from Dutch settlers. We 
again entered a boat, and crossed the rapid stream to a point 
where carriages soon conveyed our party back to the St. Nicholas 
Hotel in time to fulfil a dinner engagement. I had the pleasure 
of sitting by the poet Br^^ant, with his picturesque grey head and 
beard. 

Thursday, November 30. — Thanksgiving-day ; an annual fes- 
tival, religious and social, commanded and celebrated by each 
State. But it was sad to me ; for that morning brought accounts 
from the armies at Sebastopol, and tidings of the death of Gene- 
ral S , and others known to me, or dear to those I know. 

Still I cannot wish the place to be taken until our troops are 
strengthened by reinforcements. 

Friday, December 1. — Dr. Torrey came after breakfast ; he 
looked over my gathering of plants, and was much interested by 
the specimens of those got at Point Levi. The fern I found in 
wet meadows at Lake St. Charles, is Botrychium simplex. I 
find the Garadias are most of them parasitical upon other living 



DOCTRINE OF COJITENSATIONS. 151 

plants, whicli makes the idea of introducing them into our Eng- 
lish gardens nearly hopeless. Mr. D was so obliging as to 

guide me to some necessary calls. I made one attempt to find 
my own way through these puzzling streets, and it proved very 
unsuccessful. Saturday, at Professior Renwick's, 21, 5th Avenue 
— I came here to an early dinner, after parting with the Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Seymour for a few days ; they promise to meet 
me on Thursday, at the hotel. West Point. Monday : Mr. 

B has made an engagement for me to go to see Mr. and Mrs. 

G. S , on the Hudson, where I shall meet Washington Irving, 

who lives near. Before leaving the St. Nicholas, I was annoyed 
by discovering that my four best coloured drawings of Niagara 
Falls had been abstracted from a portfolio, and other indifferent 
ones left. This looks as if the thief had an artistic judgment, 
which is not very common here. I have offered a reward, and 
done all possible for their restoration ; the loss is irreparable to 
me : and it is a poor consolation that any one should have con- 
sidered them valuable enough to be an object of theft! The 
Canada Falls, and the American Falls from Goat Island, the lat- 
ter at sunrise and the former at sunset, were the subjects which 
seem to have attracted the notice and the cupidity of some one 
who took them away from the Governor's private room. This is 
the third robbery I have suffered since I came to America. Paint- 
brushes and pencils all stolen out of my bag at Montreal ; cloaks 
and shawls carried off during the railway accident between Ni- 
agara and Canandaigua ; and now my drawings ! So many in- 
different subjects cross the Atlantic, in hopes of finding prey here, 
that pickpocketing and petty thefts are common ; indeed it is 
almost impossible to guard against them ; and according to the 
doctrine of compensations, I must be content to put up with such 
trivial miseries, in the hope they may frank my life and limbs 
through the perils of extensive journeying by land and sea. Sun- 
day, I went to Grace Church, a Gothic elevation designed by a son 
of Professor Renwick ; the effect is much injured by all the windows 
being of painted glass, of vivid colours, ill arranged ; there were 
some good bits, and erasure with a sponge would relieve these 



152 DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTE. 

loaded panes and improve the general effect, even without any 
change in the coloured glass. As it is, the church is made too 
obscure, and good taste offended by red, blue, and yellow, inter- 
spersed without the smallest reference to harmony — that great 
requirement without which design is nothing in stained windows. 
I walked back to 5th Avenue in such heavy rain that no um- 
brella could avail to keep me dry, even for a short distance ; and 
though my 'locality' bump carried me back in the right direction, 
yet on arriving at the place, I rang at a wrong door ; for as there 
is a street at right angles to the house, I had never studied its 
exterior appearance, and therefore was at a loss to distinguish it 
from three other corners ; till I walked up stairs and disturbed a 

strange gentleman, I did not jfind out my error. Mr. F , the 

protector of emigrants, whom I met last at Spencer Wood, ac- 
companied me yesterday to see the New York Institution for the 
Deaf and Dumb. I had only a short time for my visit, but it 
was sufficient to satisfy my mind of their excellent training ; one 
of the masters is himself a deaf mute who was brought up in the 
school, and the wife of another was also a pupil ; she is pretty 
and intelligent, but still remains only able to express herself by 
signs and writing. 

I was introduced to the first class as an English lady who had 
crossed the Atlantic to see their country and its institutions ; 
each young person wrote upon his or her slate a little address, 
varied in expression according to individual character and feeling. 
Gratification at my vist and respect for Britain were predominant ; 
one or two made use of the expression ' proud ' England, but 
erased it immediately upon my suggesting that ' old ' England 
would be more appropriate. The superintendent, Mr. Peat, made 
a request that I would propose a subject upon which they could 
offer the conclusions of their own minds. I inquired ' "Whether 
the motive of love, or that of emulation, was that by which the 
course of education could best be guided.' All but one preferred 
love ; some because it was the great Christian rule ; others because 
it was the most effective ; and one, who at first was in favour of 
emulation, rubbed out the sentence with an air of repentance, 



THE MAINE LAW. 153 

when she read what she thought the better choice made by her 

associates. I found that neither Mr. F nor Mr. C were 

of my opinion respecting the best modes of eradicating slavery 
and drunkenness. I thought their reasons for passing the Maine 
law told against themselves ; for instance — ^ that a large number 
of the population were in favour of it.' Is not this very fact a 
proof that if you leave improvement to take its own course, the 
misuse of stimulants will cure itself; and a proof, also, that in- 
temperance is gradually lessening ? For, some years ago, the 
people would not have favoured a sumptuary law working against 
their own liberty, for the purpose of encouraging sobriety. It is 
said the Maine law is acting advantageously in that State. Not 
a good argument, I think ; because temporary success does not 
justify mistaken principles ; besides which, I have reason to 
believe that the improvement is more on the surface than radical ; 
that much more drinking is now done on the sly ; and thus ill- 
informed though well-intentioned people have been offering a bonus 
to hypocrisy, while they thought they were discouraging intem- 
perance. I find there are now laws enough in the State of New 
York to keep down lic[uor-shops, if they were executed : but no ; 
it is too difi&cult to put in force laws against individual failings. 
Therefore such laws become a dead letter ; and now they want to 
heap more prohibitions on the statute-book, to make up for not 
enforcing the first. They may as well fight the wind. Human 
nature was put into this world to learn self-control, and to 
gain experience ; a man will never be the more virtuous for pro- 
hibitions, or the more strong-minded for being kept wholly away 
from temptation; he must learn to refuse the evil and choose the 
good, and, if he will not learn this by the inculcation of good 
principles, he will never become more strong in virtue by being 
kept out of the reach of evil. This is the principle of the 
public schools in England. The head masters of Eton, and 
perhaps of the other schools, have falsified it with regard to 
smoking; and what is the consequence? The boys consider it 
manly to brave punishment ; and there are few among them to 
whom cigars are not growing to be a necessary indulgence; 
7* 



164 WASHINGTON ItlVING. 

besides which, they half smother themselves by putting their heada 
under water to disguise the smell ; whereas, if the habit had been 
treated as ungentlemanly and suited only to the ale-house, without 
any positive prohibition, it would probably, like other fashions, 
have become obsolete. 

December 4. — I went with Mr. and Mrs. B and Mr. 

to a pretty cottage on the Hudson River, to visit Mr. and 

Mrs. G-. S : the country all white ; so much snow that, for 

the first time, I was driven in a sleigh from the railway-station. 
I found a pleasant family, whose mode of life and arrangements 
were very much those of a small household in England. We 
paid a morning visit to Washington Irving : he is a much 
younger looking man than I expected to see; nothing of the pet- 
ted or the spoilt favourite in his simple retiring manner : he was 
all, and more, than I expected ; and I felt unalloyed pleasure in 
such an introduction. Bitter winds and snow continuing, I must 
give up any idea of West Point for the present, and be content 
with two or three days pleasantly and quietly spent. To-morrow 
I shall go to Tarry Town ; and if the Governor and Mrs. Sey- 
mour do not meet me there, I shall fulfil my engagement to them 
by returning to Albany. 

December 8. — I came on to Albany last night in cold snowy 
weather, and rejoined my friends, as they were unable to come to 
me. The journey was not pleasant, though the banks of the 
Hudson were still fine, even in their wintry dress. The steamer 
which brought us over the river from the railway station went 
crashing through the ice ; and I was not sorry to find myself in 
State-street. 

Friday^ Sth. — Mrs. Seymour took me out in a sleigh to pay 
some visits ; the coldest day I have ever felt. 

Saturday, December 9. — We walked to the Senate-house and 
some other places. The streets very slippery ; sleighs with their 
bells in all directions. Dined out. Better news from the East : 
reinforcements have reached our army. As it has already fought 
and conquered five to one, I cannot share the apprehensions of 
those who fear the allied troops will be beaten out of the Crimea. 



GOVEHNOR SEYMOUR. 166 

The power of Russia was underrated, and for that we are pun- 
ished. 

December 10. — There has been a thaw, and snow is decreas- 
ing. The sleighs seem to go heavily ; those with one horse are 
called cutters. It is only the machines drawn by two which are 
dignified by the name of sleighs. The Governor is busy winding 
up business, so as to place the affairs of the State in the hands of 
his successor, Myron Clark, by the 1st of January. I have not 
seen this gentleman ; it does not seem that his talents are appre- 
ciated highly by individuals who have been voting for him because 
he belongs to their particular party, while Mr. Seymour appears 
to be liked by those who voted against him. I extract the fol- 
lowing from a paper politically opposed : — 

' Governor Seymour, in his late admirable address at the 
opening of the New House of Refuge, near New York, stated that 
* during this last year he had been compelled to act upon iivo 
thousand cases for pardon. This duty is not only most ardu* 
ous, but most perplexing and unpleasant. To exercise the par- 
doning power discreetly requires much labour and anxious thought ; 
the entreaties of friends, of wives, parents, children, is often over- 
whelmingly painful ; and he would be more than human who did 
not sometimes err in the exercise of this important preroga- 
tive. Our Governors have, however, seldom subjected themselves 
to just censure in the exercise of their power, and Governor Sey- 
mour as seldom as any of his predecessors. His decisions have 
almost uniformly been wise and humane : and if he has sometimes 
crushed the hopes of the unhappy relatives of the imprisoned, it 
has never been because he did not sympathize with them in their 
deep misfortune, but because he believed justice forbade the exer- 
cise of the clemency sought.' 

When one considers the vast distances in this Union, and the 
size of its component parts, it is easy to understand how little a 
government of centralization can ever suit the wants of so large 
and heterogeneous an Empire. The State of New York alone is 
as large as all England, and it is evident that local governments 
such as California or Virginia, must have a much better idea of 



156 SECTARIAN ASSUMPTION. 

the genius and the requirements of their several countries thaD 
can he gained by the President and the Congress in session at 
Washington ; so, for all local purposes, each State ought to govern 
itself, and that must have been the intention of the founders of 
the Union. 

It is true that as yet police and postal arrangements are in 
their infancy, and to an English observer they appear but clum- 
sily organized ; but time will improve and consolidate these 
matters, and I should hope that a future generation will also con- 
sider the exercise of political rights as due rather to property, 
and the virtues of principle, independence, and freedom from sel- 
fish motives, than to the mere fact of an ignorant, profligate indi- 
vidual having lived, and perhaps misused, twenty-one years of 
life ; so instead of the ' Know-nothing ' proposition to take away 
the elective franchise from newly imported citizens (which would 
be invidious enough among a people who owe their success and 
prosperity to a mixture of races added to the Anglo-Saxon ele- 
ment), it appears common sense that the electors of Governors 
should be those who have some reasonable ideas of government, 
and some stake in the common prosperity. We this day heard a 
sermon embodying higher church assumption than even English 
Tractarianism ; it strongly maintained infallibility for the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in Scriptural matters. The kind and good 
Bishop of New York was present ; but his advocacy of Church 
claims is not that of Spiritual despotism ; like Fenelon, Bishop 
Horatio Potter would lead home the peasant's cow ; his Christian 
benevolence can never be moved or guided by a thought which 
could mar its charity. — The rain falls fast, and I hope to get 
south before snow and ice again encumber the roads and streets. 

Monday^ December 11. — Snow again, but the thaw proceeding. 
I sent my letter, containing the hair of the poor old woman whose 
son has become a Mormon, by a channel through which it may 
probably reach the Salt Lake. I think the possible future of that 
extraordinary community an interesting speculation. Strange 
that the off-scourings of European civilization should establish 
polygamy — a practice branded as felonious by every other State 



HOPES FOR THJE FUTURE. 157 

in the Union, a barbarism which even Turkey is gradually casting 
off! Does not this show the tendency of ignorance to return 
again to the habits of savage life, and also to go back to the 
government of a theocracy because they feel themselves incapable 
of self-government ? Yet even the present condition and past 
history of this singular community is not without some elements 
of grandeur, and even of promise. Expelled by persecution and 
violence from the parent State, the Mormons earnestly and saga- 
ciously employed themselves to build up a state for themselves. 
' Driven from civilized life, they sought rest and a home in the 
wilderness and the desert.' Blinded as they are by superstition 
and fanaticism, they are still pioneers of civilization, and it is im- 
possible not to admire the vigour and energy with which they 
accomplished their hegira. Sitting proudly at the foot of the 
Wahsach mountains, the City of the Salt Lake begins to fulfil the 
magnificent projects of its founders, and rolls it along an arid 
desert like the roses of Jericho (Anastatica), to find fresh soil 
and new homes in the desert. Their settlement only dates from 
'47 : yet wide and well-watered streets and gardens, churches, 
school-houses, mills, and public buildings, now ornament a city 
laid out upon a plan capable of including half a million of inhab- 
itants. Though the people and their institutions have departed 
widely and vilely from the laws of morality and Christianity, as 
the darkness of ignorance becomes enlightened, we must hope the 
influence of designing villains will be shaken off, and that of the 
better minded gain a reasonable influence over the deluded, but 
not evil-intentioned majority; so that, before very long, the 
slough which at present contaminates and defaces the body politic 
of the Mormonite community may be cast off. 

Your affectionate 

A. M. M. 



LETTER XIY. 



New York, Dec. 13, 1S54. 

My dear Friends, — 

An American gentleman with whom I have become well 
acquainted, took charge of me yesterday from Albany. I left 
Mr. and Mrs. Seymour with regret, but they promise to come to 
Washington before I proceed farther south. On Saturday I again 
visited the great palaeontologist, Mr. Hall. He gave me an 
interesting and instructive geological chart of his own arrange- 
ment, which, while it exemplifies only the geology of New York 
and the adjoining States, is, in fact, an epitome of that of the 
world ; as from the primitive rocks, the strata follow in regular 
succession up to the cretaceous, tertiary, and alluvial, wanting 
only those beds of oolite and chalk which, though well known in 
England, are not to be seen here. In Mr. Hall's map, the prin- 
cipal fossils to be found in each formation are represented above 
it — a plan which considerably assists the tyro. The Governor of 
New York promises me some specimens of a new mineral lately 
found on the shores of Lake Superior, which has been named 
' chloractolite,' from its bright starry lustre. It something resem- 
bles a dark green serpentine in colour, but the shining brilliant 
appearance it has will render it valuable for jewellery purposes. 
No specimens have yet been found much larger than a sixpence, 
and most I saw were not bigger than pearls. Mr. and Mrs. Hall 
came to Albany in the evening ; he told us about his geological 
tour round Lake Superior and Michigan, and let me have reports 



THE FIVE FOINTS. 159 

by the United States' geologists Foster and Whitney, which in- 
clude some very interesting sketches of the trap rock called the 
Monument on Isle Royal, and of the singular castle-shaped forma- 
tions which border part of Lake Superior. I recollect that 
Banvard's Mississippi Panorama represented rocks beyond St. 
Louis of a castellated form. The light was more favourable this 
morning for seeing the Hudson River than when I went up it 
last. We left much snow at Albany ; but upon approaching New 
York the ground was no longer white, and an afternoon clear and 
sunshiny concluded by a promising red sunset. We arrived at 
the St. Nicholas Hotel soon after five o'clock. Mrs'. Elizabeth 
Blackwell came to see me in the evening. I had some conversa- 
tion with Mr. Delevan, one of the conscientious promoters of the 
Maine Law, &c. I was not convinced by his arguments ; I could 
not help thinking that he forgot the American principle of indi- 
vidual freedom : the same reasoning he made use of would hold 
good for every kind of interference with our neighbors when we 
disapprove their conduct. It is curious that the New England 
people, descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the 
Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion, have ever 
proved themselves intolerant as regards the spiritual liberty of 
others. 

Decemher 15. — I visited the Five Points yesterday, and my 
expectations were fully realized. No fine buildings, no clap-trap 
exhibitions of classification and order and philanthropic luxury. 
Mr. Pease's charity ' worketh by love.' The destitute, the friend- 
less, the erring, there find aid, friendship, advice, and consolation ; 
the poor ' have the Gospel preached to them,' and the sick and the 
sorrowful are healed, comforted, and bid to go in peace, as Christ 
would have bid them go. 

December 16. — A return of visits occupied nearly the whole 
of yesterday, as I set out this morning by rail to Philadelphia. 
I^went across the ferry to Brooklyn, to call upon Mr. and Mrs. 

S 's (of Ottawa) youngest daughter, Mrs. C , and I there 

met John Mackay, who told me that my wish is gratified by the 
name of Bytown being finally changed to that of Ottawa City. 



160 NEW YORK. 

The weather here is now damp and mild. I crossed the North 
River ferry at nine o'clock, to take the cars for Philadelphia. 
We passed through several towns, in a flat country, devoid of pic- 
turesque scenery for the first sixty miles. Then at last I could 
have believed myself on the western outskirts of the New Forest, 
substituting hemlock spruce and red cedars for the yews and hol- 
lies of England. As we approached the shores of the Delaware, 
the red cedars became so numerous that many of the fields were 
bordered with them ; and from their regularity I suppose they 
must have been planted. I am glad to see some signs of planted 
trees in this State and that of New York ; so some of these days 
these may be fine single trees. At present I have not met with 
anything I should call fine-spreading ornamental timber ; and I 
see that it can only arise from new plantations ; for the trees of 
the forest run up tall and slender, without tap roots, and they 
have such slight hold of the ground, that when thinned out or left 
standing alone, the first storm lays them prostrate. The Dela- 
ware is a fine river, and Philadelphia an extensive city ; but there 
is an uninteresting sameness in its long streets of red brick houses, 
with glaring white window-shutters. Circumstances will not allow 
of my prolonging my stay beyond to-morrow. I observe no more 
evidence of Quakerism in this town than in any other. 

Sunday^ December 17. — A gloomy-looking, wintry day, though 
without snow, and the cold less extreme than at Albany. After 
a search of two hours yesterday afternoon, I found the residence 
of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, brother to the Bishop of New 
York. I was kindly received by Mrs. Potter, and spent the even- 
ing at her house ; but the bishop is absent upon distant episcopal 
duty — much to my regret. I was taken to St. Andrew's church 
this morning, and heard a sermon devoid of hope and love — de- 
pravity, total depravity — gloom, misery, and despair — the light 
of the Gospel extinguished, and sin and Satin made despotic over 
this wretched world! The church was crammed; but I saw 
several people sleeping soundly through the preacher's denuncia- 
tions, and few appeared to be edified. I have now heard the two 
extremes of preachers, high and low, each taking a one-sided view, 



SISTERS OF CHARITY. 161 

and each maintaining a kind of infallibility for their own indi- 
vidual opinion under the shields of Church and Scripture — both 
equally dogmatic, and equally sure that every view except his own 
is erroneous. I drank tea with Mrs. Potter, and at nine o'clock 

Dr. R called to take me to see Mrs. R , and her fine 

house and conservatories, gorgeous French satin furniture, and 
Gobelin tapestried chairs worthy of Windsor Castle. Both in 
furniture and dress, the majority of American ladies appear to be 
wholly regardless of expense. 

Baltimore^ December 19. — Before leaving Philadelphia yes- 
terday, I made acquaintance with an agreeable physician. Dr. 

G , who introduced me to our consul, Mr. Mathew. The 

consul knows friends of mine, and I was much obliged to him for 
some useful information. Although heavy snow fell the early 
part of the morning, as my departure was delayed till twelve 
o'clock, the weather cleared. I had a pleasant sunshiny journey 
of four hours to Baltimore, where I found few signs of snow. 

Mrs. W , one of my pleasant acquaintances of the White 

Mountains, met me at this hotel, and took me to her home — snug, 
cheerful, and well (though not too finely) furnished. My friend 
showed me some shells, and evinced more interest in natural pro- 
ductions than I have found among ladies generally in this coun- 
try. We passed over three rivers in our way here yesterday — the 
Delaware, the Gunpowder, and the Susquehanna ; the last a mag- 
nificent water, and the same I saw as a smaller stream in my way 
from Ithaca to Syracuse. Baltimore is situated upon the Pataps- 
co, which is here very broad, and more like an arm of the sea 
than a river. 

December 20. — Mrs. W took me this morning to see 

Mount Hope, a lunatic asylum, managed by about twenty Sisters 
of Charity, who reside at a house in a very pretty situation, over- 
looking the city and neighbourhood. The sisters act under the 
direction of an excellent Protestant physician — Dr. Stokes. No 
bigotry upon either side mars Christian labour ; love, cheerful- 
ness, comfort, and industry alleviate and bless the inmates of 
Mount Hope. So much pains is taken to avoid even the appear- 



162 WASHINGTON. 

ance of coercion, that the window-frames, which are made of 
cast-iron of a particular construction, are opened a little way by 
the same movement at top and bottom ; thus letting in sufficient 
air, without the possibility of the gap being wide enough for 
danger, so that patients are allowed to open them without risk. 
A library of suitable and amusing books, objects of natural his- 
tory, music, handiworks, are all at the disposal of the inmates; 
and though some must be under restraint, it is a restraint of the 
kindest and gentlest description. We afterwards went to a 
bazaar of ladies' work, held for the benefit of a home for the aged 
in reduced circumstances. Ail denominations of religionists had 
united their endeavours ; and although I observe much variety 
of opinion in religious matters, I think that Christians here do 
lay aside their dijfferences when a common work is to be accom- 
plished. I dined and spent the evening with Mr. and Mrs. 

W . 

December 21. — Yesterday, I saw two of the prettiest and 
best-appointed houses in this place; both fitted up in good taste, 
but without the extreme extravagance and ostentation I remarked 
in some of the residences of the Northern States. Here, for the 
first time, I see nothing but black servants — slaves, I believe ; 
but their manner and countenances express contentment and 
cheerfulness ; and certainly the relation of mistress and servant in 
the South has a more agreeable aspect than that of the same sta- 
tion in the Northern States, which is commonly characterized by 
complaints of annoyance upon one side, and a saucy indifi"erence 
upon the other. The dinner-party at Mrs. W 's was agree- 
able, and I met there several pretty Southern ladies : their voices 
and way of speaking struck me as more refined and graceful than 
those of the other States I have visited. Among some of them, 
too, I find more just views of England and English society — at 
least, among those of Baltimore ; further on, I understand, there 
is universal prejudice, and an embittered tone of feeling, arising 
partly from family recollections of the severities practised by the 
English government and military, in the struggle for indepen- 
dence ; and partly from the well-intentioned but ill-judged inter- 



THE CAPITOL AND MUSEUM. 163 

ference of the present Englisli generation about the Slavery 
question. I reached \yashington this afternoon — so much in the 
dark that I was unable to judge of the beauties of the Potomac, 
the shores of which river we must have skirted in our way. 

December 22. — I dine to-day with the British minister, v/ho 
has been so obliging as to show me the Capitol and Museum, 
where I saw many interesting but uncatalogued specimens in nat- 
ural history. There is an Alligator Gar from Lake Pontchar- 
train, which, as far as it was possible to judge from distant in- 
spection, is of a different kind from that specimen which I obtained 
from Lake Champlain, although certainly of the same family. 
An extraordinary-looking fish, two or three feet long, with a pla- 
typus-like snout (which seems made for scooping up mud or sand, 
as it extends half a foot over the mouth), was in the same case. 
There are sitting mummies from Central America with singu- 
larly short forearms ; and an ornithorynchus from Australia, the 
claws of which have the property of infiicting venomous wounds. 
Part of the Capitol is a handsome building, but the glaring white 
with which the stone is painted mars its effect ; and heavy ugly 
wings are in process of erection. I shall not see Congress in ses- 
sion until after Christmas. From a verandah out of the library, 
I gained a good view of the site of Washington and the Potomac 
river. The ground plan of wide alleys diverging from the Cap- 
itol is a fine one ; if ever the present small, mean-looking brick 
houses should be replaced by a handsome public and domestic 
architecture, this city will be worthy to be called the Capital of 
the Union. But at present the population is less than that of 
Detroit, and the general appearance of the town is not half as 
handsome. 

Saturday^ December 23. — I was introduced to several gentle- 
men, members of the Legislative Houses, and of the high legal 
courts ; and I find society here most agreeable. Dr. and Mrs. 

B , White Mountain friends, called and took me to pay some 

visits. And in the evening, at eight o'clock, I was politely recei- 
ved by the President and Mrs. Pierce. I was at first shown into 
comfortable and handsomely furnished rooms, alone; but she 



164 WASHINGTON. 

soon joined me, and after a wliile, the President came in. He is 
a quiet-looking, pale, gentlemanly man ; but both he and Mrs. 

P had a manner of subdued unostentatious sadness, so that 

during this visit I thought more and sympathized more with the 
bereaved parents, than with them as the President and Presi- 
dent's wife of the United States of America. In about half an 
hour I took leave, and returned to this hotel in time for a light 
tea. 

Sunday^ Decemher 24. — Rain having fallen last night, and 
frost having followed, the pavement of the streets is covered by 
sheets of ice, and it appears quite impossible to venture out. I 
heard a great many amusing stories to-day of Southern origin. 
There is certainly great attachment between the negroes and their 
masters (speaking generally), in spite of the facts detailed iu 
Uncle Tom. One gentleman told me that he has a distant plan- 
tation, which he sometimes visits alone ; at dinner-time he finds 
a table loaded with all kinds of delicacies, presents from the slaves. 
He remonstrated with an old Darkey who waited, upon the use- 
lessness of dressing fowls, turkey, geese, ducks, ham, &c., for one 
person. ' No matter, massa. When massa comes, must have 
good dinner on table, whether massa eat it or not.' A negro had 
an unfortunate love for brandy, and though in other respects a 
good '■ boy,' he was caught stealing his favourite drink. At sev- 
.^nty years of age, his master did not wish to punish him severely. 
So he appealed to Blackey's own conscience. ' Harry,' you know 
you deserve correction ; but with all your faults, you have a no- 
tion of justice. Now, if you think it right, you shall go unpun- 
ished ; if not^ you shall condemn yourself.' ' Well, massa, me ole 
man — me take ten lashes, and me hope be better.' And he went 
out, ordered his own punishment, and submitted to it without a 
murmur ! 

A Frenchman and his wife, settled in the South, a few miles 
from a town where the husband went in every morning for his 
employment : he procured a horse, and his wife made him an 
ornamented bridle, and smartened him up, and he was to ride 
backwards and forwards to avoid fatigue ; in coming home one 



A MOTLEY ASSEMBLAGE. 165 

day J a rattle-snake lay in a threatening attitude in the path ; the 
horse started, and, when pressed to pass, threw his master actu- 
ally upon the reptile : he jumped up and ran one way, the rattle- 
snake making off the other, and he told his wife : ' Never saw a 
snake so dom-scared in all my life ! ' On Christmas-day I walked 
to church with a young lady, whose family reside within a few 
miles of this place ; but they take up their residence in this house 
during the winter. I understand that the habit of hotel life is 
every year becoming more general in the States : this is partly 
encouraged by the troubles arising from servants ; the older ladies 
get rid of house-keeping, and the young ladies are indulged with 
constant society ; but to English tastes this mode of existence 
would be unbearable — continued noise, bustle, and excitement, 
no repose of mind, and no home duties. It is advantageous to a 
foreigner, who wishes to become acquainted with the people of the 
country ; but I should suppose it must be ruinous to the manners 
and the domestic character of the higher class of young women ; 
frivolity and indolence must be encouraged, for any regular plan 
of industrial occupation is a hopeless attempt in such places as 
these. I would rather take up my abode in any farm-house in 
England, than be condemned to fritter away my life in a great 
American hotel. Still, for me, as a stranger and a traveller, it is 
uncommonly pleasant ; I find acquaintances froin Cuba, Califor- 
nia, all the Southern States ; from each of the Northern — even 
some from Canada; naval men, who have visited Japan; politi- 
cians, judges, bishops, botanists, geologists, educationalists, phil- 
anthropists, abolitionists, slave-holders, voyages of discovery-men, 
and men who have been some of all these things at various periods 
of their lives, with a large number of ladies, all willing to converse, 
and vying in kindness and hospitality towards me, the only for- 
eigner and stranger among them. All this makes me sometimes 
fear I may be inclined to over-value myself, and that before my 
return to England I may be puifed up by conceit and vanity : the 
best hope is, that I hardly have time to become inflated ; for there 
is also much here to make one forget self The Bishop of Penn- 
sylvania, brother to my friend the Bishop of New York, arrived 



166 WASHINGTON. 

here from a tour in liis diocese (wliicli has the extent of all Eng- 
land), the day before yesterday, to superintend or take part in an 
Association for educational purposes, which holds its sessions (or 
conventions, as they are called here) at the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. Bishop Potter is so good as to allow of my accompanying 
him there, so that he unites instruction and attention to a stran- 
ger with his professional duties : it is impossible not to feel deeply 
the agreeable and useful influence of his truly Christian heart and 
powerful mind, so that I consider myself most fortunate in such 
an acquaintance. 

December 28. — I spent nearly all day at the meeting of the 
Educational Association ; much interesting information was eli- 
cited, particularly from Mr. Barnard, who having been to England 
for the purpose of comparing our institutions with those of the 
United States, showed himself well-informed and candid in his 
deductions. I was surprised to find that there are still 600,000 
people in the United States, unable either to read or write; and 
that this ignorance is by no means confined to the emigrant pop- 
ulation. I accompanied the bishop to a party at Mr. Corcoran's, 
where there are some pretty pictures, one of Moreland's, from 
which I remember seeing a print in my childhood. The educa- 
tional meeting did not break up until Friday, the 29th, after pro- 
posing that the next meeting of the Association sliall be held at 
New York, the end of August, 1855. The Bishop of Pennsyl- 
vania and other members left Washington in the afternoon of 
that day. Among the remarks made by Professor Henry and 
others, as to the results of early discipline and self-control upon 
the character of after-life ; it was observed that no instance of 
unhappy, childish old age could be brought to mind, in which the 
cultivation of the intellect and the habits of varied study, alterna- 
ting with healthy bodily exercise, were continued without inter- 
mission after sixty years of age, and had been regularly pursued 
in previous life. It is supposed that old people must be wedded 
to the opinions and customs of their youth ; but this is the mis- 
fortune of those only who consider their notions fixed and their 
education and information complete : a man still seeking instruc- 



DANCING. 167 

tion at seventy will be as open to conviction and to change of 
opinion as he was at seventeen : it is the ' ioo-old-io-learn people ' 
who sink into dotage and depression. Another awful fact for the 
dissolute or the idle youth must he stated — that even when the 
check of public opinion and love of approbation induce self-con- 
trol and moral conduct during the middle age, if there has not 
been laid in early life a foundation of principle and good habits, 
the consequences of early profligacy show themselves in a return 
to vicious acts, as mental power wanes with added years, and the 
hoary sinner goes to his grave in sin and misery — so the end of 
that man is worse than his beginning. It may be well for the 
young to hear this ; for it was enunciated and agreed to as truth 
by a body of men whose knowledge and experience can hardly bo 
gainsaid. This evening I was invited by Mrs. Fremont, in the 
absence of her husband, to see a series of daguerreotypes, brought 
by Colonel Fremont from the Rocky Mountains : though many 
had reference merely to a choice of country for railroads, they 
are on the whole very interesting ; some rocks of the old red 
sandstone formation stood up from a plain, in form and appear- 
ance like gigantic Egyptian statues ; these were in the Mormon 
district. On returning to Willard's, I found dancing going on 
very merrily in the ladies' room, four negroes — piano, hautboy, 
violin, and violoncello — playing in excellent tune, and with suffi- 
cient taste and time. The ladies were all in demi-toilette ; but I 
do not see so generally the absurd flaunty style of attire so re- 
markable at New York. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



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LETTEK XY. 

THE NEW YEAR. 

■Washington, January 1, 1855. 

My DEAR Friends, 

No former year of my life has begun so strangely as this ! 
T tliink there is something beautiful in one feature of the Ameri- 
can celebration of New Year's Day. It is made an opportunity 
for the oblivion of neglects, and for the forgiveness of social in- 
juries. On this day, visits of kindness and congratulation are not 
confined to intimate friends, but every one who has a wish to be 
civil to his neighbour is cordially received by him or her. The 
ladies commonly stay at home to welcome their visitors, while 
gentlemen make a point of calling upon all their acquaintances, 
remaining at each house perhaps not more than five minutes; 
but still the call is accepted as one of cordiality and good- will. In 
many families, refreshments of an elegant kind are prepared and 
offered by the lady of the house ; and from the President down- 
wards, the population in all the towns and cities are intent upon 
the promotion of hospitality and kind feeling. Mr. Crampton 
took me into the diplomatic circle at the White House, where, 
being presented to most of the gentlemen, I actually shook hands 
with the Russian minister ; and at this moment was not that the 
greatest homage I could offer to the peace-making duty of the 
day ? We next visited Secretary Marcy's, where there was a rC' 



WASHINGTON AND ANDRE. 169 

ception, which, like that of the President, may be attended by 
everybody. As we were early, the party was small ; but after- 
wards I went to Di\ B 's, where for three hours I was present 

at an in-pouring of visitors, and I made the acquaintance of many 
interesting and agreeable people ; among them a charming Lithua- 
nian lady, the wife of a Polish gentleman of rank, nearly con- 
nected with Prince Czartoriski. Dancing and other amusements 
at the Hotel in the evening. 

January 2. — Part of the morning was devoted to the School 
of Design, which is well directed by Mr. Whittaker, who was 
born an Englishman. A lady afterwards carried me to the State 
Paper Office, where I saw interesting documents; among them 
some private letters characteristic of the firm, purpose-like Wash- 
ington ; and a most touching original note, containing poor 
Andre's request for a soldier's death, instead of that of the 
gibbet. The calm, gentlemanly writing, without tremor and 
unmarked by haste — ^not an unnecessary stroke nor a useless 
word — takes one into the very heart of the man who wrote it. 
Washington was deeply moved, but gave no reply. After all he 
was right. Though poor Andre was the victim of that wretch 
Arnold (who lived only to die a hundred times over under the 
scorn of England and America), still he was taken in disguise ; 
and since Washington felt that an example had become necessary, 
he was obliged to condemn Andre as the spy, not as the soldier. 
After our visit to the State department, I went by the request of 

Miss G and with her, to see a young lady, in the hope that, by 

joining my persuasions to Miss G 's, we might induce her to 

assist some effort for training women, through an improved 
education, for teachers. In the evening, I accompanied another 
lady to hear Mr. Marsh's lecture on Constantinople and the 
Bosphorus. We met the President and Mrs. Pierce, who were 
on the platform at the Smithsonian Institute. The lecture was 
rather commonplace, but the large room was crowded by an 
intelligent and attentive audience. It is in form and arrange- 
ment one of the best lecture-rooms I ever saw. These last three 
8 



170 WASHINGTON. 

days the weather has been clear and pleasant, but not warmer 
than in England. 

January 3. — Mr. Ingersoll took me to see Congress in ses- 
son. I was fortunate in the moment accidentally chosen. After 
some time spent in hearing a rather confused and noisy debate, 
there were two good speeches in their several lines, one from a 
young man, the California member — clear, concise, fluent, and 
business-like ; it was about a land commission : the other, from 

Mr. K , of South Carolina — fervid, energetic, argumentative 

and eloquent. It must be borne in mind that the terms ' Whig ' 
and ' Democrat ' have different meanings here to those which 
they express in England. The American Democrat designates 
enlightened, consistent principles; the Whig, narrow-minded, 

bigoted, Republicanism. Mr. K 's speech lasted one hour, 

without proving tedious or uninstructive. It is impossible in a 
few words to do justice either to his eloquence or his reasoning ; but 
after making a rapid though comprehensive sketch of the present 
state of parties in this country, he affirmed, that in fact there 
never has been in the world, and never can be, more than two 
great parties — consisting, one of well-informed liberal men, the 
other of ignorant bigoted men ; that new names and a new organ- 
ization are only a sign that under old names one of the old par- 
ties has become effete. So, at the present moment, the Whigs 
have apparently disbanded, but in truth they have only reformed, 
to enlist and to march under the ' Know-nothing ' banners. They 
have indeed assumed a most suitable and characteristic designa- 
tion, one which might well have been selected by their opponents. 
Socialists in practice, they desire to arm labour against capital ; 
Roman Catholics in principle, they would advocate bigotry in 
lieu of tolerance; arbitrary in government, they would enact 
white slavery while they profess to do away with black servitude. 
Falsifying the principles and tearing up the foundations of 
freedom, ' they are,' said the orator, ' mutes who would follow 
the funeral of the Republic' Upon the whole, I was agreeably 
surprised with the good speaking and general appearance of 
Congress ; because I had been told by almost every one since I 



ANNIVERSARY SUPPER. 



171 



came to America, that I sliould find a sad lack of talent and 
political honesty. Respecting the latter quality, of course I am 
not capable of judging; but there seems no lack of honest faces^ 
and I find less assumption in manner than I expected. Mr. 
Ingersoll took me into the Speaker's private room, where we 
found Mr. Boyd alone, having been disengaged from the chair by 
a committee of the ' whole ' (as it is called here), which enables 
the Speaker to place a substitute in his chair. In this room I 
saw the place where President Adams expired ; it is marked by 

his bust. Upon my return home, finding Mr. C had called 

twice, I went to see him at his house, and we had an interesting 
conversation upon educational subjects. In the evening I dined 
with our minister, and sat beween Secretary Marcy and Mr. 
Gushing, the Attorney-General. There was a large party of 
gentlemen, and three ladies besides myself — Mrs. Marcy 's sister 
(Mrs. French), Miss Marcy, and Mrs, Campbell, wife of the 
Solicitor-General. Upon returning to Willard's Hotel, I found 
the gallery and ladies' room crowded by visitors, and the mulatto 
band, as usual, in requisition. I was introduced to Mr. Kietl, the 
orator of the morning. There are ' Know-nothings' (even femi- 
nine ones) among the residents of this hotel. I can easily dis- 
cover them by their crude, unintelligent style of conversation. 

Thursday ^ January 4. — There was a great assemblage last 
night in the room underneath mine — a supper of gentlemen, for 
the celebration of some anniversary ; a band of music, sor.gs, 
speeches, and viciferous applause. Sleep being out of the ques- 
tion, I rose at two o'clock- and almost read through Lord Car- 
lisle's Diary in the Turkish Waters before daylight. Of course 
I was gratified at finding our cousin of the Betrihuiion so higi.ly 
spoken of in it. This morning I was a good deal occupied in 

arranging a sitting in my own room, that Mrs. S (the o]::ly 

very talented American artist I have yet met with) might have 
the opportunity to make a drawing of an acquaintance of miiie. 
In the library of the Capitol there is one of the most exquisite 
miniatures by this lady I ever saw. It almost resembled so^ne 
of Thorburn's ; but there is so little real appreciation of art in 



172 WASHINGTON. 

Wasliington, that I found Mrs. S hardly able to procure era- 

ploymeiLt, crowded as the city is with notabilities from all parts 
of the Union. Her slight sketches, as well as the more finished 
miniatures, are pretty, and her drawing correct ; yet, excepting a 
little instruction from some English person when very young, she 
appears almost wholly self-taught. Lieutenant Maury was so 
obliging as to call ; he gave me a tempting invitation to drink tea 
with his family at the Observatory, the first evening I see any 
chance of visible stars. In the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. IngersoU 
took me again to the Capitol. There had been an early adjourn- 
ment of the Senate, and though Congress was sitting (it was not 
engaged in business which interested me), a large majority of 
members wore occupied at their desks writing letters. This habit 
deteriorates much from the dignity and statesmanlike appearance 
of the House ; and I remember observing the same thing, and 
making the same remark, in the Chamber of Deputies at Paris, 
Quebec, and in all the legislative assemblies in which the mem- 
bers, instead of being obliged to retire to the lobbies (as in our 
parliamentary houses) for letter-writing and private business, are 
accommodated with chairs and tables in the halls, where public 
affairs only should be transacted. Here members of Congress 
remain half their time, unconscious of what is going forward, ab- 
sorbed in their individual interests, when they ought to be wholly 
given to those of the public — so that they look more like an as- 
semblage of clerks than of statesmen. To-day I dined with the 
President, by the formal invitation of a week. The party con- 
sisted of about thirty-two. I sat between Mr. Broadhead and 
Mr. Ashley, two members of the Senate, who have passed some 
time in England. There were a good many ladies, but more gen- 
tlemen. The President and Mrs. Pierce sat opposite on each 
side the table; and I was near the former. The dinner was 
handsome, and well arranged in French fashion ; flowers and fruit 
only on the table, and one dish at a time handed round. In the re- 
ception-room there were some splendid white camellias, covered by 
flowers which I think are larger here than any with us ; great use is 
made of the fir-like Lycopodium and the elegant Steevia, in the 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. l7l 

composition of ornamental bouquets, some of which were placed at 
the disposal of the ladies. At half-past nine the party broke up, 
having met at six o'clock. Upon returning to the hotel, I spent 
the remainder of the evening in pleasant conversation — princi- 
pally with Miss Cass ; she and her father, Greneral Cass, usually 
reside in this house during the winter. The society in the ladies' 
room is diversified, and by no means stiff. There are whist-tables, 
and occasionally dancing and music. I never saw any card-play- 
ing for money in the United States. 

Saturday^ January G. — Mrs. Fremont called upon me yester- 
day morning ; and from her brother-in-law Mr. Jones, I received 
a large long-shaped acorn, eatable like the Spanish chestnut. It 
was brought from a mountainous region in California. This and 
one black as ebony from the same country, I hope to send soon by 
a private hand to be planted in England. I have a pretty little 
sleeping tortoise also, the Pieta ; when Dr. and Mrs. Gray arrive, 
I shall ask them to carry it back to Boston to await my 
return there. I hope to have this, and a box tortoise from 
Albany, and a spotted one from Rhode Island, as live specimens 
of the tortoise families. I spent the chief part of the 5th of 
January in returning visits. 

This morning, the 6th, I walked to the Smithsonian Institute, 
and got much information about objects of natural history from 
Professor Baird. Another foggy, damp day, quite as thick as any 
in London, barring the smoke. I have been reading two pam- 
phlets giving opposite views upon the subject of the Smithsonian 
Institution. A controversy is going on here respecting the distri- 
bution of the fund left by our countryman to found an establish- 
ment at Washington ' For the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge 
among Men.' It would be difficult to credit the fact, had I not 
the best authority for it, that the whole annual income, being 
thirty thousand dollars, a vote of Congress decided (appointing 
Begents to carry its decisions into effect), that ' a suitable building 
of sufficient size, with rooms and halls for reception and arrange- 
ment, upon a liberal scale, of objects of natural history, geological, 
mineralogical, and botanical, properly classed and arranged, with 



174 WASHINGTON. 

a chemical laboratory, lecture-rooms, &c., shall be organized ;' anc 
then assigned a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars 
for a library. If this were to be understood as appropriating five 
parts of the whole income to buying and collecting books, the 
absurdity of the first provisions would be evident ; so the mana- 
gers (as it appears to me sensibly enough) took advantage of the 
loop-hole aiiorded by the words ' not exceeding,' and have gone 
on, to the best of their ability, endeavouring to realize the 
apparent intentions of the founder and of Congress ; and, as far 
as I can judge, in a reasonable and intelligent manner. Yet a 
party of men of some talent and ability are bent upon maintaining 
that a library, and a library only, was to be established. If Mr. 
Smithson had contemplated this narrow view, he could easily 
have stated it. I should imagine it was his intention, by ' A 
Central Institution for the Difi'usion of Knowledge among Men,' 
to counteract the mercantile and Mammonite spirit which possesses 
the majority, and open the book of Nature to their comprehension : 
while by promoting healthier ideas upon education, the crude and 
absurd opinions too generally advanced and acted upon, will be 
amended and counteracted, and an improved and more practical 
female training will be encouraged. It will no longer be gravely 
enunciated at an educational convention — ' That the stimulus 
which the human heart requires is wanting for women in the 
present age, and that society gives them nothing to aim at ; ' but 
if so, give them reasonable aims. Let them aim at duty, not 
notoriety. Let them keep within their appropriate sphere, culti- 
vating sufficient moral courage to act within that sphere for the 
benefit of their fellow-creatures, and particularly for the advantage 
of their sex ; disciplining and training their own minds to be the 
educated companions, not the rivals, of men. Let them be the 
heart-consolers, the binders-up of broken spirits, the ' sisters of 
the sisterless,' the presiding geniuses of the social circle. Is 
that not work enough for them to do ? In this country, I hear 
that ' though it has no queen, all the women are queens.'' I 
should rather call them playthings — dolls ; things treated as if 
they were unfit or unwilling to help themselves or others : and 



CUBA AND HEIl WRONGS. 17£ 

wlille we in England have nearly cast aside arts of tiie toilet 
wortli}' only of dolls, I see here false brows, false bloom, false 
hair, false everythiag ! — not always, but too frequently. Dress 
in America, as an almost general rule, is full of extravagance 
and artificiality ; and while vvomen show such a want of reliance 
upon their native powers of pleasing, their infiuence in society 
will be more nominal than real. 

3Ionday, January 8. — This day I made my first appearance 
at a morning reception. Ladies here issue cards or notes, stating 
they are at home on particular days, when any acquaintances may 
visit them. This is a pleasant and rational mode of making calls, 
and appears to me worthy of adoption elsewhere. Mr. IngersoU 
was so obliging as to take me to listen to arguments in the Su- 
preme Legal Court, the only tribunal which is competent to settle 
questions which may arise between States. A counsel spoke so 
clearly and concisely upon a particular point of law, that he 
brought it within my comprehension ; the case was, that of the 
boundary line to be drawn between Georgia and Florida. My 
friends Dr. and Mrs. Gray have arrived from Cambridge. I dined 
with them at Professor Henry's, and went to the Smithsonian In- 
stitute to hear the first of nine lectures on botany by Dr. Gray. 
Although the morning was fine and clear, rain came on at night ; 
and since Lieutenant Maury's invitation to the Observatory,^ the 
weather has afforded no opportunity for its acceptance. 

Tuesday^ January 9. — Cloudy and damp. I went with an 

agreeable Cuban gentleman, Mr. , to a morning reception 

at Mrs. P 's, and then he took me to see some pictures at the 

Capitol, which are to be disposed of by raffle. One, St. Thomas 
giving Charity (by a pupil of Murillo's, touched by the master), 
is an interesting picture ; the others I did not admire. The ab- 
sence of any positive news from England is very trying, and the 
details brought by the former mail most afflicting ; still, however 
saddening, no English person can despair of the ultimate success 
of heroism and civilization against cruelty and barbarism. 

I have become well acquainted with some pleasant intelligent 
Cuban families here, and their accounts make me feel it impossible 



176 WASHINGTON. 

not to wish that their fine island should he more free, misgovern- 
ed and pillaged as it is by its present masters ; and not being 
very far from the American shores, I wish America could pur- 
chase it : the case would be analogous to that policy of Mr. Pitt, 
by which the Crown of England took possession of the little king- 
dom of Blan ; and with respect to which our family had only the 
choice of accepting a certain sum, or of having it seized by the 
law of the strongest. The mines alone in the last mentioned 
island now produce more than the interest of the money. 

Wednesday^ January 10. — Last night I attended an evening 
party, which included all the notabilities of Washington. It was 
much like a crowded assembly in London, except that I thought 
there was more amusement ; because the Washington party con- 
sisted of a re-union of people who, though under the same govern- 
ment, reside thousands of miles apart. There I received invita- 
tions from the South and from the North, the East and the West, 
and fully mean to avail myself of some of them. I was given a 
very hospitable one, to visit a member of Congress who resides 
upon the Mississippi, not an impracticable distance from the falls 
of St. Anthony. Some of the invitations are to Mexico, Texas, 
and California; not forgetting the Salt Lake, in consequence of 
an introduction to the Mormon delegate — a gentlemanly, respec- 
table-looking old man with a bald head. I did not inquire if he 
has twelve wives ; but an amusing account has been given me with 
regard to the domestic arrangements of that strange people. It 
seems that when the first wife wants help in the household, she 
petitions her husband to take another spouse — a good cook or a 
dairywoman for instance, or a sempstress — so one wife is house- 
keeper, another has the cooking department, a third manages the 
nursery, and so forth ; and as there is no small difficulty in getting 
good servants in the United States, this matrimonial plan ensures 
a more permanent and better ordered household than could be at' 
tained without it. I am informed that the domestic troubles of i 
wife in the United States are such that, unless she resides in the 
slave countries, she thinks it far more convenient to be first wife, 
with half-a-dozen subordinate ones, than to be sole darling with 



A POSTULATE. * 177 

the disadvanfages of saucy servants and the discomforts of bad 
dinners ; so that, in fact, Republicanism, and an unnatural attempt 
at equality, has caused a return of the terrible evils of polygamy. 
What a curious result. I hope this strange custom will not spread 
over the Union ! 

January 11. — I spent three hours in Congress yesterday, ho- 
ping to hear Mr. C speak about the 'Know-nothings;' the 

House was taken up by a hot discussion upon the question of for- 
eigners receiving immediate grants of land, with an understandiog 
that the franchise will become theirs at the termination of five 
years, which is the present law. This of course bore upon the 
' Know-nothing ' ground, and it is sad to see how deeply a secret 
society, banded together upon exclusive, illiberal, and arbitrary 
principles, has taken root in the free soil of America. In conver- 
sation, it is easy to judge whether individuals are in their hearts 
favourable to such views; and every day inakes me think the 
ramifications of the conspiracy have extended to a depth and a 
distance about which I was for a time incredulous. There is 
much reason to fear this irrational party may have power enough 
to carry the presidential chair : if so, I really think the ' mutes ' 
may get their black trappings prepared to-morrow for the funeral 
of the Republic — a catastrophe prophesied by the member of 
South Carolina ; and I fear those obsequies may not only be wept 
in sackcloth and ashes, but that they may be followed by a civil 
war. There seems a dearth of strong men in the Union — men 
capable of taking the lead, and sufficiently patriotic to sacrifice 
their own present personal interest to the public weal. I observe 
a sad spirit of corruption and of self-seeking among the younger 
men ; and I also see that fear and doubt are shaking the spirits 
of the elder and wiser people. No one seems even to guess what 
will come out of the fermenting process which the commonest ob- 
server must see at work. The lees have risen to the surface; 
whether they will sink again to the bottom of the political chaldron 
without poisoning the life-blood of this world-wide community, is 
the question seldom uttered, but deepl}'^ seated in the minds of 
honest and thoughtful persons. I doubt whether this mental con- 



178 WASHINGTON. 

flict here is not more alarming than the external and physical 
war the Allies have to wage against the barbarism of the North, 
inasmuch as open enmity is better than secret contention ; the 
known foe can be met and conquered, but a concealed antagonist 
effects his mischief upon unconscious victims. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M 









^S^g^'i^W^k^Ag^ 



LETTEK XVI. 



"Wa SniNGTON, ) 

January 12, 1855. ) 

My dear FraENDS, — 

I went yesterday, with Mrs. Seymour and Mrs. Cristobel 
de Madan, to hear the (almost single) Roman Catholic member, 
Mr. Chandler, speak in Congress, for the purpose of repudiating 
and denying the accusation brought against his co-religionists by 
Mr. Banks of Massachusetts (one of the advocates of the ' Know- 
nothing conspiracy), which asserted that they, the Roman Catho- 
lics, acknowledge a temporal jurisdiction in the Papacy. The 
House was at first occupied by a motion, made by some member 
from the South, for increasing the allowance to foreign ministers. 
He said, the salaries given are so meagre, that it is difficult to 
induce men of talent and experience to undertake missions, and 
therefore the affairs of the States (in Europe) are embroiled and 
mismanaged by a set of inferior diplomatists. I am not enough ac- 
quainted with the pulse of the American Congress to judge how this 
proposition was received 5 but the intense and respectful attention 
afforded to Mr. Chandler, I thought a good sign of generous and 
tolerant feeling ; and this makes me hope that there is still free- 
dom and impartiality enough in the Union to counteract the 
narrow and inconsistent opinions of Republican bigotry. Mr. 
Chandler's address was good, both in manner and matter : it was 
well worded, calm, logical and frank. He affirmed most solemnly, 



180 EXTINCTION OF THE TRIBES. 

that SO far from believing any riglit could be assumed by the 
Bishops of Rome touching upon political allegiance, he and all 
other good Catholics consider the spiritual rule, which they wil- 
lingly admit, as quite distinct from the temporal : although his- 
tory shows that temporal rule has been exercised by Roman 
pontiffs, it was not derived from the church itself, but from 
the Catholic princes of Europe, who chose to delegate undue 
power to the Popes of those times. ' And if,' said Mr. Chandler, 
' the Bishops of Rome should now, or at any future time, invade 
the territory of this Republic, or of any other Protestant sovereign- 
ty, Roman Catholics would consider themselves bound by every 
principle, divine or human, to oppose and repel such an assump- 
tion of temporal power.' The Governor, Mrs. Seymour, and I, 
dined together at the house of Governor Hamilton Pish, Mr. 
Seymour's predecessor in the Government of New York State. 
I had a great deal of conversation with him, and with another old 
gentleman, upon the present state and future prospects of free 
slaves. They were both of opinion that some inherent difference 
of race is the cause that the black people die out and become ex- 
tinct in one or two generations, after the attainment of freedom 
and of amalgamation with whites. This seems to be a universal 
law. Mr. Fish told me that, in his experience, it has worked so 
rapidly, that his family having about fifty years ago freed their 
negroes, though at the same time allowing them a claim for aid 
and future protection — letting them have the cottages and the 
ground to which they had been accustomed — still, under these 
advantageous circumstances, they had gradually dwindled away ; 
and though Governor Fish considers the remnant almost as be- 
longing to his own family, and they apply to him for advice and 
help upon all occasions, yet not above five or six individuals are 
existing, and no one of them j^ounger than sixty. I accompanied 
some friends to the evening reception of Mrs. Marcy, which was 
well attended, although many other houses were also open for 
parties. 

Friday, IWi. — A fine clear day. ^Irs. Hamilton Fish took 
Mrs. Seymour and me a drive to the heights of Georgetown ; and 



PRESIDENTIAL EVENING. 181 

we also called on Mrs. Maury at the Observatory. It is in a 
beautiful situation, commanding the city of Washington, and also 
long reaches of the Potomac each way. Lieutenant Maury took 
us up to the roof of the building, and we are to have the pleasure 
of a visit to his observatory next week, if the stars will be favour- 
able. I drank tea out with Mr. and Mrs. Seymour, and after- 
wards accompanied their party to the Presidential evening levee 
(as the word is here pronounced), to which all classes decently 
attired are admitted. We found two rooms crowded, but the 
company perfectly well conducted and orderly. In general aspect, 
I was reminded of an entertainment given by a London City Lord 
Mayor in the Guildhall. We returned to the hotel by eleven 
o'clock. 

January 13. — I received a file of Times newspapers to the 
2od of last month, and sat up nearly all night to read them. Sad 
and heart-breaking details ; and in the paper of latest date, an 
article levelled against the Ministry and all the em^ployes in the 
East, so bitter and vituperative in style, and so sweeping in accu- 
sation, that it tells more against the writers than in condemnation 
of those written against. In this house I have made the acquaint- 
ance of three distinguished Generals of the Republic — Scott, 
Cass, and Houston — all massive-looking, soldier-like men. After 
a fine morning the afternoon proved wet, so that I could not 
sketch or go to the Observatory ; but Mrs. Fish was so kind as to 
take me out to pay visits. After dinner, there was an evening 
assembly and dancing for the young people. I was introduced to 
an interesting famity, natives of New Orleans. They spoke Eng- 
lish, but with some accent, their own tongue being French ; but I 
much prefer our language a little broken to the broad and often 
nasal pronunciation of New England and New York. The 
Southern people have pleasing voices, and are much less provin- 
cial in their speech than those of the Northern States. 

Sunday, January 14. — A blind minister preached yesterday 
at the Congress chapel. I should have heard him, but the service 
was earlier than I expected, so when I reached Professor Henry's 
Dr. and Mrs. Gray were gone. A cold clear day, but no signs of 



182 



OFFERS OF MARRIAGE. 



ice. Last night I saw a very interesting set of drawings of Cali- 
fornia and the Rocky Mountains, belonging to a gentleman who has 
been much in the Far West, He confirmed my deductions about 
the Mormonite domestic polity, having frequently conversed with 
the women of that State. The ladies are not shut up in idleness 
like those of Eastern harems, but live happily together, because 
they are too busy to quarrel. One woman told him — ' We agree 
well : sister Dolly has the cov/s ; sister Jenny, the children ; 
sister Betty, the kitchen ; and so on — all have plenty to do : and 
our husband is bound by law to support and take equal care of 
us ; and then we are so Sell-hent on Heaven 1 ' Is it not evident, 
slavery or polygamy is the product of an unnatural attempt after 
equality? I shall certainly return to England more strongly 

imbued with attachment to our orderly institutions. II has 

had ofi'ers of marriage in America ; but she says, ' No, I will 
never marry here — not even if I could have the very President 
himself. Why, in England I may have my own station, and I'm 
content ; but in America I should never know what I was.' I find 
many charming people, a great deal that is interesting, and much 
that is instructive, in the United States ; but it appears to me 
that only the fear of starvation would induce an English man or 
woman to fix themselves for life in America. ' In whatever state 
of life you are, therewith to be cdiitent,' is a lesson which can 
hardly be learned this side the Atlantic. 

January 16. — I walked up early yesterday to call upon Dr. 

and Mrs. B ; he and ]\Ir. W brought me back, and Mrs. 

Fish was again so kind as to come and convey me to sketch on 
the Greorgetown heights. And then she waited in the carriage 
while I paid a visit to the British Minister, who is confined to his 
house owing to the consequences of an accident. Mr. and Mrs. 
Seymour and I had a pleasant dinner at Mr. and Mrs. T aloe's, 
where we met General Scott, and the Mexican and French Minis- 
ter, and attaclie^ Judge Drew, and other acquaintances. At this 
house is one of the prettiest Carlo Dolces I ever saw. It once 
belonged to the Duchess de Berri. On our return, Mr. Blake, 
the geologist, showed us beautifully crystallized and other speci- 



CHAIlACTEPilSTICS OF THE SOUTH. 183 

mens of Californian gold, and gave me some dust of Cuban iron 
pyrites as brilliant as diamonds. 

January 17. — Directly after breakfast yesterday, I walked up 
to the Observatory, and spent two hours sketching from its roof. 
The views are fine every way, particularly up the Potomac towards 
that large aqueduct which carries a canal across to Georgetown. 
I saw Lieutenant Maury, and agreed with him that, as my travels 
must be pursued on the 18tli as far as Kichmond, Wednesday even- 
ing (stars or no stars) we must spend at the Observatory. I came 
home in time to dress for a wedding, when I found a pretty bride and 
a cheerful party ; but according to custom in the reception-rooms of 
this country, they were so darkened that I should rather have sup- 
posed the assembly gathered together for a funeral than a wedding. 
I saw a great deal of beauty, although of one particular type. 
Proceeding towards the South, I find the manners soften as well 
as the voice, more frankness and cheerfulness : the rather stifi* 
formality of the Northern States is replaced by ease, and at the I 
same time the young people are merry without being boisterous, i 
and no one objects to those games and amusements which the 
spirit of the puritanical times has handed down as crimes to be 
cast aside by their New England descendants. So oftentimes 
those good people are bored for want of innocent relaxation, and 
the elderly prefer staying by their own firesides to falling asleep 
in public for want of occupation. There is certainly an odd mix- 
ture of the '■ go-ahead ' and the indolent among our American 
cousins, which is exemplified in the saying, that such a man ' is 
running a sleepy race,' which means that his adherents are push- 
ing him forward for election to some ofiice, while the candidate 
himself remains in a state of somnolent indifference to the result. 
Mr. and Mrs. Seymour took me to a place which has been called 
Calametta, from its beautiful and sunny view of the Potomac, &c. 
We found it a pleasant, comfortable house, with bright-coloured 
peacocks walking about in the wood surrounding it. I dined at 
the Secretary of State's, with a large number of diplomatic 
gentlemen, and only four ladies besides myself. The French Min- 
ister sat by Mrs. Marcy, and I had Mr. Marcy on one side and 



184 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

the Spanisli Minister on the other. The dinner could not be 
otherwise than agreeable. The Secretary is a remarkably frank, 
agreeable old man, and I was not afraid to joke him a little about 
his republican aversion to court dresses. I found out the whole 
secret afterwards. In his drawing-room there is an interesting 
picture, painted in the time of Louis XVI., of the King and Queen 
sitting in their circle, while some gay ladies of the Court crown 
Benjamin Franklin with a wreath of laurel. Franklin is uncon- 
taminated by any attire more gay than his Quaker-like looking 
habiliments (though it seems he was occasionally seduced into a 
court dress, for a velvet one belonging to him is still preserved), 
and I guess the ladies around him were not without a little sly 
triumph of their own on the occasion which gave rise to the pic- 
ture ; but it is evident to me that scene was not one of a public 
reception, for no gentleman is present excepting the King. Secre- 
tary Marcy was (I think) sentimentally led astray in his crusade 
against European finery by this picture. I don't the least believe 
(an accusation I have heard here) that his motive was to curry 
favour with the American public, who may imagine an ugly coat 
and republicanism synonymous terms. He is a downright honest 
man, if ever I sav/ one ; and with all his talents and knowledge of 
the American world, upon the subject of European dress, he was 
much more likely to err from simplicity than design. My neigh- 
bour on the other side could only express himself in French and 
Spanish, and as the Secretary confines himself to plain English as 
well as plain coats, the Spanish Minister is frequently obliged to 
have recourse to an interpreter, which, in a delicate diplomatic 
conference, he thinks is inconvenient. 

I was introducad to the Dutch Minister, who speaks English 
like a native. The Prussian looked quiet and neutral ; the 
French, anxious and incredulous. Mr. Crampton was prevented 
by his accident from joining the party, a circumstance generally 
regretted, for no one is more popular in the diplomatic circle. 
None of the second grade were present — only Ministers and their 
attaches. Mr. Marcy told me he could not receive the whole 
corps together, and therefore he takes the first rank with their 



RICHMOND. 185 

belongings at one dinner, and others separate. Mr. and Mr». 
Seymour, having dined elsewhere, came to take me home, and 
joined the party for a short time. 

BicJimond, Virginia, January 18.— I have just arrived at 
this place ; but, before writing of our journey here, the conclu- 
sion of my stay at Washington must be told. Wednesday, I 

breakfasted with Dr. and Mrs. B , my friends of the White 

Mountains. The Judge and Mrs. Maclean, and Mr. P , a 

member of Congress, were of the party — it was very pleasant. 
Mrs. Maclean walked back with me as far as Professor Henry's, 
where I went to see Dr. and Mrs. Gray ; and, before going home, 

I had to go to Mrs. S , the artist. She has made a slight 

sketch of Longfellow for me. On my return to the hotel, I had 
much to do ; separating wardrobe, books, and natural history 
accumulations, to be forwarded to Boston : my acquisitions in- 
crease like a rolling snow-ball ; and from all the principal stop- 
ping-places during my travels, I send off packages to Mr. L 's 

care. At Washington, bouquets are general in full costume; 
they are always made up by the gardeners, but hardly ever con- 
sist of any other flowers than Camellias, Canarinas, Heliotropes, 
Steevias, and violets, with the berries of Ardisia crenulata, and 
the feathery foliage of Lycopodium dendroides. I received two 
beautiful ones this afternoon from gentlemen ; a sweet bunch of 
geranium and Neapolitan violets was given me by a young Cuban 
lady ; and I had a white Camellia, also, from Miss Seymour. Mrs. 
Seymour dined at home with me, and at six o'clock Mrs. Fish 
called, to convey us to the Observatory, accompanied by Judge 
Drew and Mr. Miller. The stars shone brightly — the finest show 
of them I have yet seen in America. Lieutenant Maury took us 
up to the telescope directly on our arrival. We had a good view 
of a spangled bit of sky in Perseus, not visible to the naked eye. 
Sirius appeared like a tuft of blue, red, and gold feathers, waving 
in the heavens ; Saturn's globe and ring perfectly clear and dis- 
tinct ; and the belt and five geometrical-looking stars of Orion 
very bright. After our eyes and minds we^e fatigued by these 
marvels, we went in to drink tea with Mrs. Maury, and then 



186 UNPLEASANT INCIDENTS 

returiiecl to town to attend Mr. Guthrie's reception, where I took 
leave of the Grays, the Quaker lady of Philadelphia, General 
Scott, Mr. Maury, and many others who have been kind to me at 
Washington. We returned home to the dancing party at Wii- 
lard's, and found it crowded. I said good-bye to many friends 
there ; and upon getting up at six next morning to depart, I found 

Mr. P and Mr. M , both ready to see us safe on board 

the steamer ; they accompanied us to the Potomac ; it was quite 
dark, and their company was very cheering. A fine sunrise on 
the magnificent river, and after a very calm and successful pas- 
sage of fifty-five miles, we found the railroad cars at Acquia 
Creek ; the distance to Richmond was about seventy miles ; 
weather continued bright, warm, and sunshiny. I felt the influ- 
ence of a southern atmosphere, and the journey would have been 
pleasant if I had had pleasanter neighbours in the car ; but just 
before me was a being who called himself the American Dwarf; 
he was about two feet high, with fin-like hands, and a head nearly 
as large as his contorted body : and, on my right a negro woman, 
in face resembling an ourang-outang, who gloried in a fancy straw 
bonnet, trimmed with white, with artificial roses surrounding her 
black muzzle. She became dreadfully sea, or rather rail-sick, 
and my window being open, although there was another on her 
side, she constantly leaned across me to take possession of mine ; 
at last a gentlemanly-looking young man, who I conclude was her 
master, came to my rescue, and throwing open a window behind, 
he said a few words which made her keep to her own locality. 
This improved my immediate circumstances ; but in a few minutes 
afterwards we were brought to a standstill, and looking out, saw 
a dreadful accident. Either from intoxication or insanity, a fine- 
looking young man, apparently not more than twenty-three, had 
placed himself on the rail just at a curve, so that the engineer 
had no time to pull up, though he did his best ; the poor wretch 
was cut in two, and expired immediately. All the people evinced 
great feeling and kindness ; the corpse of the poor stranger was 
taken up, and. we proceeded. I found the Exchange a comforta- 
ble hotel, and the sister of Dr. Gibson of Baltimore, soon came 



STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 187 

to me with her married daughter ; and they took me to their 

home, and I passed a pleasant evening, Mr. J being so kind 

as to walk back at night with me through the still and unfre- 
quented streets. There was hardly a sound until that usual 
occurrence, a peal of fire bells, broke the quiet. I have never 
been in any town in the United States without hearing such 
alarms. At Richmond it is not uncommon to have two or three 
fires a night, and these fires are usually the work of incendiaries ; 
wooden houses are so easily set in a blaze, that boys for mischief, 
and thieves for plunder, slily ignite them. 

January 20. — I saw a great deal of this pretty town ; if it 
had the castle and the ancient buildings of Edinburgh, it would 
resemble that city, the Powhatan River taking the place of the 

Forth. Mrs. J took us across the valley to sketch towards 

the east, and I made a drawing of the locality round Washing- 
ton's monument, the various steeples, towers, &c., with the Capitol, 
a pleasing Grecian building, capping and overlooking the city, 
and the surrounding country. Under the centre of the dome, 
inside that building, I saw the best statue of Washington in the 
whole Union, by Houdier : it is said to be a good likeness, and, as 
a work of art, it is most interesting. I could not have believed 
that the stiflf costume of that time could have been so idealized. 
The General stands in an easy attitude, leaning upon a bunch of 
fascines — the very buttons on his coat, and the high top-boots, 
&c. &c., are all indicated, and yet there is no lack of grace, no 
appearance of formality, in this very fine statue. Strange to say, 
an air of neglect and dilapidation is visible all round it; the 
interior of the building is sadly out of repair ; the doors want 
paint, and all is dirty and quite unworthy of the best public 
building in the State of Virginia, the House of Legislature and 
of business. Perhaps a few years will dissipate financial difficul- 
ties, which have been brought on by an extravagant railway ex- 
penditure ; it will, probably, repay the citizens in due time, and 
then they may be enabled to wipe off the disgrace of shabbiness 
which at present hangs over their proceedings. 

Mrs. G called for a handsome agreeable lady, who accom- 



1B8 CHARLOTTESVILLE. 

panied us during the rest of our drive. They took me to the 
Cemetery, beautifully situated, and from thence I made a general 
sketch of Richmond, with its crowning Capitol, Powhatan River 
(undignified by the modern name of James), and a foreground of 
better trees than I had yet seen in America. In this place are 
many pretty hollies, with red berries like ours, but with leaves 
opaque instead of shining ; and before going home we called at a 
nursery-ground, where there was nothing new to me, excepting a 
shrub which, though now leafless, has bunches of small lilac ber- 
ries. The gentleman did not know what country it came from, 
or the tribe to which it belongs. Indeed, he told me, so little 
interest is shown for flowers in this part of the world, that since 
he came here from Scotland, he has rather lost than gained in 
botanical and floral acquirement. I declined an invitation to dine 
at three o'clock ; such early hours at this time of year shorten the 
already shortened days. After returning to the hotel for the pur- 
pose of writing to Washington, I made my way alone across the 
river by a very long wooden bridge. On the other side I passed 
voluminous houses, which I was told were flour and cotton mills ; 
beyond them the view of Richmond was fine. A brilliant sunset 
reminded me that there is little twilight here, and so I feared 

that I should hardly find my way in the dark to Mrs. G 's, 

where tea awaited me. After some wanderings I reached her 
house before a very young moon had disappeared, and from thence 

!|P'joined a small party at Mrs. M 's. 

f^U. January 21. — Our cars left Richmond at seven this morn- 
'\^ IJng, and the sun rose so red that I fear he promises rain. Vf e 
reached Charlottesville soon after twelve, and passed through a 
very pretty'Tcnlntry, which requires nothing but animal life and 
industry to make it charming. The absence of fencing to the 
railroads at ouce speaks of scanty flocks and herds ; for, if these 
were not few and far between, the owners would insist upon pre- 
cautionary measures. As it is, cows and sheep are occasionally 
killed by the trains ; but when not more than fifty beasts can be 
seen in as many miles, the risk is not great. To-day we passed 
along a rolling* district, aifording every promise of a grateful re* 
* Tho common expression in America for an undulating ooimtry. 



V 



I 



ROAD TO STAUNTON 189 

turn to energetic and industrious cultivation. Yet I saw ploughs 
worked by a single horse, which did little more thau scratch the 
surface, and a rich soil beneath was only brought to light hy the 
course of the railroad. Passing rapidly along, I observed much 
iron sand, excellent slate, volcanic rocks, gneiss, greenstone, 
quartz, plenty of water, a natural growth of oak and chestnut, 
and I have little doubt but that mineral riches are below. An 
English farmer who could bring free labour with him here might 
quickly make his fortune. The slave servants look generally 
well clothed, merry, and content ; but of farm labour they have 
evidentl}'- but small knowledge ; and a general population, either 
white or black, seems scanty. Upon arriving at the small town 
of Charlottesville, I was sorry to find that Mr. Stevenson, the 
former Minister to England, was absent from his house, a few 
miles distant. At the University, however, I was most kindly 
welcomed by the Professor and Mrs. Minor ; he and Professor 
Maupin showed me the buildings, and an extensive view from the 
roof of the dome. This educational establishment was founded 
by Jefferson. It is ruled by nine trustees, who are newly 
appointed*^ ever}^ four years by the incoming President of the 
United States ; and it has this peculiarity — that the governing 
head of the institution is changed every two years. There is no 
professor of Natural History in any of its branches, and no 
teacher of Chemistry, either agricultural or medical ; so that one 
cannot much wonder that ignorance respecting the soils and the 
mineral riches of this State should be evident, even to an un- 
practised eye. We slept at a clean and reasonable hotel; I 
walked up in a heavy shower of rain, through red mud (much like 
that of Torquay in Devonshire), to the college, for the purpose of 
taking leave, and got into the cars by twelve o'clock. After 
about fifty miles' journey, passing over mountains consisting of 
gneiss, greenstone, slaty rocks, and limestone, we reached Staun- 
ton by a wonderful line of road : the last part was engineered up, 
and ploughed like a deep furrow along the side of a mountain, to 
the very summit, and then down again to the plain below. The 
making of this line was ordered and superintended by the same 



190 LEXINGTON. 

German engineer who planned and is erecting the suspension 
bridge from one shore of Niagara to the other, with a passage for 
railroad cars above the carriage road. From what I saw to-day, 
my faith in the success of that bridge is almost undoubting. 
We find the Virginian Hotel here comfortable, and the country 
we came through to-day must be very picturesque ; but rain and 
fog prevented our seeing more than half a mile from the cars. 
Staunton is rather a pretty town : as we entered, I saw a hand- 
some building for an asylum for the blind, and I was told there 
are several other large charitable establishments. 

January 22. — Violent rain, storm, and wind during the night. 
V/e got up to proceed by the mail stage, which started at five 
o'clock, more punctually than is usual in America ; and the bills 
here and at Charlottesville were fair and reasonable — not a third 
of what we have paid elsewhere. The charges have varied from 
two dollars to eight dollars a day : they are never more reasona- 
ble than in some parts of England, sometimes dearer than the 
hotels of London and Paris. With four horses, and only four 
persons in the coach, we did not reach Lexington till after one 
o'clock. At first, the master of the tavern made some difficulty 
about procuring us a carriage to go on seventeen miles to the 
Natural Bridge ; but after a little demur, we got one so as to start 
by half-past two. Lexington is a small town, not very pictur- 
esque in itself, but standing in a plain with fine mountains all round 
at a few miles' distance — the nearest, a flat-topped massive-look- 
ing hill, is called by people here " The House." There are no 
Indians in all this part of the country, and even their beautiful 
names have been forgotten, and have given place to such Cockney 
appellations as James River, Louisa Court, Charlottesville, (&c. 
&c. There are many signs of hard frost on the road, which was 
tolerable as far as Buchanan ; planks ware laid for that distance. 
When we turned oif into the valley, about four miles from the 
rocky bridge, our carriage was much tried ; the horses fioundered 
along the brink of a precipice, our driver calling to us to throw our 
weight now upon one side, now on the other, to keep a balance. 
At one time within half a foot of deep water, where, in case of 



THE NATURAL BRIDGE. 191 

being overturned, we must have been drowed, if we had escaped 
being smashed in the fall ; at another, with a descent of three 
hundred feet, without the smallest guard upon our right. But 
our Irish coachman was civil and expert ; he assured me he would 
not have anything happen to us for fifty dollars, and happily, both 
traces breaking within a mile and a half of our destination, I 
scrambled out of the vehicle, rejoiced to find my feet once more, 

leaving R to take care of the vehicle, while the driver went 

back to pick up the scattered boxes. I made my way on, with 
the help of a bright young moon, to the first little hotel (there is 
another, near the Bridge). It was a rough place ; but I was hos- 
pitably received, and the master's son, with a negro servant, set 
off to aid and guide the carriage through a track which had ap- 
peared to me in some places wholly impracticable for anything on 

wheels. However, fortunately, it was too dark for E to see 

danger, and the three men guided her on safely in about two 
hours, much to the relief of my mind. No other catastrophe oc- 
curred, excepting that some of my boxes, which had been shaken 
off, were considerably mauled, and I hardly felt this as a misfor- 
tune, in consideration of our own safety. The good people did 
their best to feed and warm us, but as their house is little pre- 
pared for winter visitors, and this night a frost occurred, seldom 
known in Virginia — in spite of a blazing wood fire, and a blanket 
hunig up over our door, the water in the jugs and basins was 
frozen before daylight. However, I was glad to find, that by 
rising very early there would be time to see and sketch the won- 
derful Natural Bridge, and to reach the canal, two miles' distance, 
by ten o'clock. Most fortunately, the steamboat goes down to- 
morrow, otherwise we might have been detained till Thursday in 
Lynchburg. 

January 24. — After all that has been said in praise of the 
Natural Bridge, I was not disappointed : the chasm over which it 
passes is narrower at the bottom than at the top : beginning at 
fifty feet, it gradually widens to near a hundred, and is about two 
hundred and ninety feet in height, while the way over the top may 
be about twenty or thirty in width, guarded by natural walls of 



192 SCENERY ON THE POWHATAN. 

rock, and covered by five feet of soil, made firm and bound toge- 
ther by trees and shrubbery. The small stream it crosses is 
called Cedar Creek, which, like all the rivers of this district, is as 
turbid and as muddy-looking as the Ouse, in Bedfordshire. The 
rich soils of these lands are borne down by all these waters, to fer- 
tilize neglected or worn-out farms in distant places. Looking at 
this bridge from a short distance, it has a magnificent appearance, 
and no one would guess Nature to have been her own architect. 
The arch is finely formed : over its centre the rock is chiselled 
into the appearance of a deep-set window, and on one side it seems 
as if supported by a gigantic buttress, backed by mountains, and 
set in a framework of verdure. Summer must render this bridge 
still more beautiful ; but its grandeur can even now be well ap- 
preciated. I engaged our driver and carriage of last evening to 
take us to the place where the Lynchburg steamer calls — most 
fortunately — for no conveyance large enough for luggage could 
now have been hired. Fine mountainous and glorious forest views 
extend the whole way down the Powhatan. I was reminded of 
some parts of Grermany ; but the scenery of this river far exceeds 
that of the Khine, though the water has not equal clearness or 
volume, and these mountains are not ornamented by ruined castles. 
Of the Rocky Bridge I often heard ; but neither books nor trav- 
ellers, familiar to me, have spoken of these forty miles of scenery 
passed through by a canal, which sometimes travels by one shore, 
then takes to the river, and once crosses over it to the other side. 
We passed at least twenty locks, going easily and plsasantly ; our 
speed averaged about four miles an hour — quite fast enough, for 
I had time to sketch and to enjoy the beautiful scenery, instead 
of being steamed along too rapidly for either pleasure. A warm 
sun befriended us, and, though the air was rather cold, it was 
clear and still, so that with an occasional visit to the cabin to warm 
my hands, I was able to sit all day on deck ; and this passage 
proved one of the most agreeable and least tedious of all I have 
had, though it occupied nine hours. Some of the valleys travers- 
ing this mountain region are suspected to be rich in minerals and 
precious stones, which is very probable. From signs I observed 



LINKS CANAL-BOAT. 193 

on the blue ridge which we mounted by the railroad, greenstone 
passes into limestone ; mica, slate, and granite frequently appear, 
though I am not enough of a geologist to be able to mark and 
describe their exact locations. Beautifully white gypsum was placed 
in heaps by the river-side where we first embarked on board the 
canal boat, but no one could tell me from whence ; I saw star- 
looking dark spots, as large as a shilling, in one mass, having 
almost the appearance of fossils, though I conclude they must have 
been some modification of talc. There was no time to get any 
knocked oiF; and, as people here consider attention to stones or 
flowers a very childish proceeding, it is difficult to gain their 
attention to such objects. About half-way down the river there 
is a large manufactory of cement made from a limestone which con- 
tains iron and aluminous matter. This is burned, then powdered, 
and put into barrels, which are sold for one dollar each. This is 
not the sole manufactory : there are other localities in the State 
of New York where it is made — towards the north, I suppose. 
This is the most firm and durable thing known for cementing 
stones together : it seems to become part and parcel of their very 
substance. An obliging gentleman on board procured me a speci- 
men of the limestone in its natural state, and also before it is 
ground after burning. 

Daylight had quite faded away before we landed here ; the 
captain provided us with such an excellent dinner of turkey, 
roast beef, and cranberry tart, with common potatoes, sweet pota- 
toes, fine celery, and glasses of sweet milk, that we were in no 
starving condition ; and I recommend the Links canal-boat as 
one of the most pleasurable conveyances I ever entered, though 
it has no gorgeous saloon or even railed deck. The black cook, 
seeing me draw, came to beg ' missus would make his picture for 
his ole loife^ which undertaking was accomplished to our mutual 
content, Darkey having evidently no vanity to wound. I cannot 
always tell whether these black servants are free or slaves — ^proba- 
bly the latter. They are merry, good-natured, and easy in their 
manner; familiar, but in a much pleasaoter way than the helps 
of the Northern States, who mistake an impertinent manner for 

9 



194 



PETERSBURG. 



republicanism, and speak as if tliey thought themselves injured 
by serving you. 

On my arrival at this, the ' Noble Hotel,' a black chamber- 
maid took charge of us, and, though the bed-room felt warm, she 
insisted on lighting a fire, for fear 'missus should be cold.' 
' Pray, missus, have fire ; don't think of trouble, missus — don't 
mind trouble.' Some of these blacks are officiously anxious to 
oblige, and this without any motive of interest, as far "as I can 
judge. "We leave this place at half-past nine for Petersburg ; 
stay there to-night, and next day go to Wilmington by steam- 
boat, I believe, and then to Charleston on Friday or Saturday, I 
hope. 

Petersburg J JVednesday Evening. — We left Lynchburg at 
nine this morning. As far as I can judge, it is a pretty place, 
and the views nearly all the way upon the railroad are fine. The 
country, Devonian in rocks and scenery ; I could have fancied 
myself near Haldon Hill, it is so like the neighbourhood of Exe- 
ter, part of the way : the soil as red and the land equally rich- 
looking, but certainly not as well cultivated, or rendered as pro- 
ductive by good farming. At Petersburg we crossed the Appo- 
mattox river, which falls into the Powhatan twelve miles below 
that place. Petersburg is evidently a growing town. I suppose 
the numerous railroads which now traverse Virginia will quickly 
stir up the inhabitants, and make them aware that their State, as 
it is one of the most beautiful, has also capabilities which might 
render it the most rich and thriving. We came over the highest 
viaduct I ever crossed, one hundred and eighty feet !- I was so 
terrified that I could not look out for giddiness : it is built on 
piles ; the engineer who planned it and the bridges over the Pow- 
hatan at Lynchburg, was in the cars, and assured us of safety ; 
but it was difficult to feel at ease during the transit. "We reached 
this place before five, and I intend to leave it by the train at 
three o'clock to-morrow morning, for Wilmington. 

Thursday^ January 25. — We reached Wilmington by eight 
o'clock this evening, one hundred and sixty miles, nearly all the 
way through pine barrens, which are not barren of turpentine and 



MR. GUSHING ON THE WAR. 195 

tar ; tliese products are extracted from the pitcli pines. There 
are many large manufactories to procure them ; the trees have 
the bark taken off about ten feet on one side, and vessels are 
placed to catch the turpentine. When this is exhausted, the 
trees are cut down, sawed into lengths, and placed in circles, with 
a fire in the centre, much in the way charcoal is made ; but as 
the tar comes out it is made to run into pipes, and the wood when 
exhausted is covered over, and becomes charcoal. From Peters- 
burg, the whole country consists of poor sands and clay, like part 
of Hampshire and the adjoining bit of Dorset. The sand during 
the greater part of the way is as white as that around Bourne- 
mouth. Not far from a place called Goldsborough, a colony of 
Irish appear to be comfortably settling themselves ; what they 
cultivate I cannot judge, passing rapidly, at this time of year ; 
they seemed healthy and well clothed ; and I observed pigs of all 
ages, and several cows. It was a pleasant sight to see these poor 
people making the wilderness a springing well, and the barren 
land rich. I should like to bring all the ' Know Nothings' of the 
country to look at them. I am told this faction abounds in the 
South ; it is evident there are men guiding this movement who 
ought to know better ; but some are making political profit of 
the ignorance and mistaken patriotism of their weaker neigh- 
bours, and hope to attain power by such means. I am sorry to 
find a considerable party in the United States advocate openly 
the principle of ' doing evil that good may come,' as regards their 
own country ; and Mr. Gushing, the Attorney-General of the 
States, informed me without circumlocution, speaking of the Eu- 
ropean war, that the Turks being effete^ and a sea-board being 
necessary for the Russians, it was perfectly right and proper that 
the latter should devour the former. If it be possible for repub- 
licans to be in the pay of despotism, I should imagine this gen- 
tleman must be one of the favoured emissaries of the Emperor 
Nicholas. After passing through the rich, ill-cultivated High- 
lands of Virginia, it is curious to observe how much more is com- 
paratively drawn from the unthankful soil we passed through to- 
day ; half this care and industry bestowed upon the former would 



196 BLACK SERVANTS. 

"be returned tenfold. I observed some few Rhododendrons 
and Kalmias upon the blue ridge, as we descended by that 
wonderful railroad ; and for fifty miles, as we approached this 
place, the undergrowth was rich in all those showy evergreens we 
call American. On the trees I saw bunches of an Epiphyte, 
growing like our mistletoe, and the long hair-like lichen, or para- 
sitical plant, I have so often heard described as clothing the 
woods in the South ; it covered and hung round many trees I 
saw in a swamp this afternoon. I am much amused with the 
* Blackies,' who act as chambermaids everywhere now ; they 
quite take possession of us, remain in the room saits ceremonies 
and are officious and curious beyond belief. One watched me 
drawing to-night with great astonishment ; she said she had 
' never seen any one do that before ; how can you make marks 
that look like places ? You must have a clever head ! ' I begged 
for snuffers, a tallow candle having a long nose. ' Oh, I does that 
with my fingers ; but I'll find you an old pair of scissors.' When 
we asked for some warm water, she thought the request very ex- 
traordinary, and burst into a hoarse laugh. They certainly 
are very unlike the white race ; but everybody seems good- 
natured to them : they come into the cars and sit where they 
please. I see none of the white exclusiveness I had been taught 
to expect. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



^-^ ^^ ^=^ ^^ ^~*7 ^ JF *^ ^-^ ^^ ^ Jr ^-^ ^,^ 

■^..O ^..O ^..O -^..o ^..o ^.o -^..o ^.O ^.O '^..O ^..O ^.o 



LETTEE XYII. 



Chaeleston, January 7, 1855. 

My dear Friends, — 

The post for England went off to-day unexpectedly ; I had 
only a few minutes' warning, and no time to look at my letter, so 
that I forget whether I wrote last from Petersburg ; but as we 
reached Wilmington too late at night, and started too early to see 
anything of that place, I could not have said much about it. 
White sand and pine barrens made up the whole two hundred 
and sixty miles of yesterday's journey. It required twenty-two 
hours' railroad to accomplish that distance. Almost all the pitch 
pines are disfigured, and most probably will be killed, by the bark 
being stripped off, that the turpentine may drip from it into a 
small vessel placed on the ground. The forest looks as if it was 
planted with white posts ; but this is occasionally relieved by 
thickets of Rhododendron, Kalmia, and Phyllerea, which must be 
splendid when flowering, in May ; and about sixty miles from this 
place the pitch is superseded by the Pinus palustris. It is pretty 
to see the long tassel-like looking leaves streaming in the wind ; 
but it makes a very transparent-looking forest, as the branches 
grow wide apart, and the bunches of foliage are also distant from 
each other. I begin to mark cotton plantations, and my com- 
passionate feelings are rapidly changing sides. It appears to me 
our benevolent intentions in England have taken a mistaken direc- 
tion, and that we should bestow our compassion on the masters in- 



198 

stead of on tlie slaves. The former by no means enjoy the incubus 
with which circumstances have loaded them, and would be only 
too happy if they could supersede this black labour by white ; 
but as to the negroes, they are the merriest, most contented 
set of people I ever saw ; of course there are exceptions, but 1 am 
inclined to suspect that we have as much vice, and more suffering, 
than is caused here by the unfortunate institution of Slavery ; and 
I very much doubt if freedom will ever make the black popula- 
tion, in the mass, anything more than a set of grown-up children. ^ 
Even as to the matter of purchase and sale, it is disliked by 
masters ; and I find compassion very much wasted upon the ob- 
jects of it. An old lady died here lately, and her negroes were 

to be parted with ; Mrs. S , an acquaintance of mine, knew 

these blacks, and shed tears about their change of fate ; but when 
they came to market, and she found all so gay and indifferent 
about it, she could not help feeling her sorrow was greatly thrown 
away. Mrs. Stowe's Topsy is a perfect illustration of Darkie's 
character, and many of the sad histories of which her book is 
made up may be true as isolated facts ; but yet I feel sure that, 
as a whole, the story, however ingeniously worked up, is an unfair 
picture ; a libel upon the slaveholders as a body. I very much 
doubt if a real Uncle Tom can often be found in the whole negro 
race ; and if such a being is, or was, he is as great a rarity, as a 
Shakspeare among whites. One particular want appears to me 
evident in negro minds and character : they have no conscious- 
ness of the fitness of things. I suflfer now from the cold wintry 
weather here ; and upon my begging Blackie for a better fire in 
my room, in the civilest, most anxious tone, he asked whether I 
would not like some iced water ? (Knowing this to be a luxury 
in hot weather, he would never consider that it might be less 
acceptable in cold.) We have lately had black chambermaids in 
all hotels. They are perfectly good-natured, and officiously 
anxious to help us in all matters in which their assistance is not 
required. ' Let I do this, Missus,' and ' Let I do that,' when 
perhaps it is hard to induce them to do what is really wanted — 
to light the fire when we are cold, or to bring a little warm water 



DARKIES AS NURSES. 199 

when clean hands would be a luxury. They fairly take possession 
of us, and unless we lock them out, they stand to watch our pro- 
ceedings, and curiously to inspect our things. ' Adeline,' at 
Lynchburg, saw my sketch of the black cook on board the TMuks 
canal-boat, at which she burst into a loud laugh, and exclaimed, 
'■ He very like a monkey, missus — we very like monkies.' And 
she appeared delighted with her own wit — not at all hurt by the 
idea. A pretty Southern lady arrived at the hotel, with a fair 
infant in the arms of his black nurse. I came out from the tea- 
room rather sooner than was expected, and found all the Darkies 
that could get away assembled round the tiny massa, (they are 
very fond of children, and make capital nurses, — tender, watchful, 
playful, and yet, I think, firm ; but they are firm only with chil- 
dren), jumping and screaming their delight. Upon seeing me an 
elderly man came forward, with a grin and a bow — ' The black 
population are only enjoying themselves, missus.' I said I was 
glad they were happy, and left them to their happiness. At one 
of the railroad stations I watched a young and intelligent-looking 
black man, considerably beyond boyhood, perseveringly keeping 
up a kind of Highland trot over a number of small pitch barrels 
with all the zest of a white child from four to six years of age. 
I begin to doubt whether they ever grow mentally after twenty. 
They are precocious children, being so imitative ; they soon ripen, 
come to a stand-still, and advance no farther. In this respect 
Uncle Tom is a myth, but Topsy a reality. I mean to go and 
see a sale of slaves; my wish is to judge the subject fairly in all / 
its bearings, and this I may be trusted to do even by Abolitionists ; 
for early prejudices and my national and acquired feelings are 
certainly opposed to slavery ; but if countenances are '■ a history 
as well as a prophecy,' the national expression of faces in the 
North as contrasted with those of the South tell a strange, and 
to me an unexpected story, as regards the greatest happiness prin- 
ciple of the greatest number ! Of course, it must be borne in 
mind that no rules are without exception : but, oh, the haggard, 
anxious, melancholy, restless, sickly, hopeless faces I have seen 
in the Northern States — in the rail-cars, on the steam-boats, in 



200 EARLY SELF-RELIANCE. 

the saloons, and particularly in the ladies' parlour. There is 
beauty of feature and complexion, with hardly any individuality 
of character. Nothing like simplicity, even among children after 
ten years of age — hot-house, forced imjoetuous beings, the ahnighiy 
dollars^ the incentive and only guide to activity and appreciation. 
Women care that their husbands should gain gold, that they may 
spend it in dress and ostentation ; and the men like that their 
wives should appear as queens, whether they rule well, or ill, or 
at all ; yet it is certain that I have made the acquaintance, and 
that I value the friendship, of superior women in the North, and 
if I should be thought to have expressed myself with too much 
severity, I appeal to their candour and judgment ; and being 
American cousins they have the Anglo-Saxon love of Truth, and 
will not spurn her even in an unveiled form, or receive her un- 
graciously even when thus presented. I have reason to speak 
gratefully, and warmly do I feel, and anxiously do I venture these 
observations, which may seem even harsh and ungrateful. I do 
not yet know much of the Southern ladies ; but from Washing- 
ton to this place I have been struck by a general improvement 
of countenance and manner in the white race, and this in spite of 
the horrors which accompany the misuse of tobacco. If the 
gentlemen of this part of the country would only acquire habits 
of self-control and decency in this matter, they would indeed be- 
come the Preux Chevaliers of the United States, as their hills 
and valleys may prove the store-houses and gardens of the Union. 
May their sons and daughters look to these things, and increase 
in wealth, prosperity, virtue, and happiness ! 

In the railroad-cars the day before yesterday, when asking for 
information as to the name of a place, a youth sitting near offered 
to go and find it out for me ; he had the air of a ruddy, healthy- 
looking Englishman, and I was struck by the frank, ingenuous 
manner with which he came forward : he stood by my seat, and 
afterwards conversed freely, yet without conceit or forwardness. 
I elicited that his parents are Bavarian, residing at no great dis- 
tance from Munich ; that at sixteen he came out to this country 
alone, as a traveller, in some business ; that he loves his own 



CHARLESTON. 201 

people and his friends, and hopes, some day, to revisit them ; but 
that it is probable the duties of his calling will detain him in 
America for years. I would stake my existence upon the honour 
and integrity of that boy ; he will prove a fine example of the 
advantages of early collision and of self-reliance. I have heard 
the Lord's Prayer quoted as an argument for keeping boys out of 
the indurating process of early temptation. I cannot think that 
the words alluded to have any other sense than of an individual 
petition for strength to overcome. Every boy wrapped in what 
the canny Scotch wife calls the ' blue blanket,' may not prove 
vicious, but most of them ' sow their wild oats' between eighteen 
and twenty-five, instead of some years earlier ; and those who do 
not, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred become weak and un- 
decided characters. It must be remembered that weakness comes 
nigh to wickedness, though it may not be (as the old proverb has 
it) worse than wickedness. The Professors at the Virginian 
University tell me they regret that Jefi"erson (its founder) placed 
it away from a town. I asked what their experience led them to 
think of home education for young men, and received the same 
answer as I have already from experienced vheads of houses at 
Oxford and Cambridge : that all the care of a virtuous home will 
not make up for the life-training of the world, best given at an 
age when the temptations of vice have less strength, and its ugli- 
ness is more apparent than it will be some years later. I consider 
this subject as one of such overwhelming importance to the 
Christian and moral welfare of those concerned, that no scruples, 
either of affection or interest, shall induce me to conceal these 
opinions, or mask my own convictions. ™ — r 

Charleston^ January 29. — A cold day yesterday, and wet 
all this morning. I have only made acquaintance with some 

friends of Mr. and Mrs. R . They took me last night to 

what I should not have seen of my own accord in America, 
Waugh's Italia removed ; it consists of beautiful panoramic views 
of all the finest sights and views in Italy. I never met with any- 
thing superior of the kind, and I hope they may some day be taken 
to England. This hotel is very good ; much better ordered than 



202 THE TILLANDSIA USNOIDES. 

Willard's, at Washington ; or even than the St Nicholas at New 
York, in point of real comfort, although less gorgeously furnished 
than the latter. Of this city I have as yet seen nothing ; but 
the streets and houses appear to he clean and well kept. Last 
night I heard parties of darkies singing, as they passed the win- 
dows, those negro melodies the airs of which have become familiar 
in England. Music, nursing, washing, and cooking are their 
peculiar talents, and cheerfulness their special virtue. After 
dinner to-day I had the first good orange I have tasted since 
1 came South. It has surprised me to find that fruit is more 
scarce and dearer in Virginia and Carolina than with us. I am 
not to see orange trees till I reach Florida ; and throughout the 
United States their fruit is much less plentiful than in England 
— perhaps at New Orleans I may find it otherwise. Sweet pota- 
toes and turtle are both frequent at the dinner-table of this hotel. 
This evening one of my pleasant Washington acquaintances, Mr. 

P , came to see me, and we are to go together to-morrow, to 

call on Mrs. H . It has poured all the morning, so I have 

not been out. 

This is a fine day ; several ladies and gentlemen of this place 

called on me, and I received Mr. and Mrs. H , who forestalled 

my intention, by coming to me. Professor and Mrs. Gibbs took 
me to make a sketch of the Ettewan and Yemassee Rivers from 
the Battery, at White Point." There I saw the first palmetto I 
ever yet met with in the open air ; and, on my return to the 
hotel, a gentleman told me the Isabel steamer had just brought a 
cargo of oranges from Cuba. In one garden this morning, I saw 
a standard orange tree, with some fruit upon it, but it was sup- 
posed not to be sweet ; and since that I have found several of the 
same, bearing only what we should call Seville oranges. The 
timber-trees of Magnolia grandiflora all about this place are fine, 
and must be beautiful in summer, but this severe winter renders 
vegetation very backward ; and I see some of the live oaks 
{Qiiercus virens) rather cut by the cold. The Tillandsia usnoides 
(called everywhere here by the name of hanging moss), having 
the appearance, at a little distance, of our hair-like lichens, 



BOTANIZING. 203 

dresses most of the trees, but especially the live oak, with its 
graceful pendulous bunches, sometimes hanging a yard and a half 
long; the stem is not larger than a thread, set with small, 
rounded, frosted white leaves ; the little sweet-scented, reddish, 
purplish flowers come out at the end of the rope-like stems which 
swing about in the breeze. They steep this Tillandsia in water, 
and use its black, hair-like fibres for stuffing mattresses and pillows; 
the seeds being light, are carried about by the wind, and stick 
and fructify in all the trees around ; yet it seems difficult to cul- 
tivate, for I have never seen it in our English Epiphyte houses. 
The te.rperature of any greenhouse would suit its constitution, 
but I imagine it requires to be blown about ; and a still atmos- 
phere is probably uncongenial to the habits of this pretty waving 
plant. I have seen a live oak as large as any of our British oaks, 
having upon it as many tufts of Tillandsia as leaves ; it does not 
appear to be injurious like the mistletoe, but adds to the beauty 
of its adopted parent without shortening the life of whatever 

sustaining tree may support it. I drank tea at Mrs. R 's, 

and spent a pleasant evening with Mr. and Mrs. H . 

January 30. — Professor and Mrs. Gibbs called for me at 
eleven in the morning, and we had a delightful day in the open 
air, botanizing, &c. Dr. Gibbs knew every plant and seed. For 
the first time I found yarras and cactuses in the hedge-rows ; 
ferns, such as Polypodium incanum, plentifully on ancient live 
oaks, Aspleuium ebeneum, and Botrychium Yirginiacum, in an 
English looking lane ; the beautiful little Houstonia serpyllifolia 
and Mitchella repens, with scarlet twin berries ; Prunus Caro- 
linian ; and the Jasmine-coloured Gelseminium sempervirens twin- 
ing up it, and through the hedges of Ilex Cassine. I often feel 
in this country as if I had been removed to a new heavens and a 
new earth, and as if my enjoyments now are a foretaste of worlds 
where space and time will open out fresh delights, in a fuller 
comprehension of the mighty Creator and his mighty works. 

At a pretty spot called Gibbs' Farm, belonging to some part 
af the Professor's family, we passed great part of the morning ; 
in a small garden belonging to it, I gathered bundles of that 



204 MAGNOLIA CEMETERY. 

beautiful paper Narcissus, so rare in England, and I knocked 
down what is here called a sour orange {alias bitter) from a fine 
bush thirty feet high. Then after making a sketch of that 
picturesque homestead, with its venerable oaks, the Tillandsia, 
imitating the white beard and silvery locks of age, Mrs. Gibbs 
placed at my feet a basket filled with oranges and bananas from 
Cuba, for lunch, and I made these a foreground for my drawing. 
We again got into the carriage and made our progress to Mag- 
nolia Cemetery. Owing to the usual recklessness of American 
habits, we had to cross a railroad which runs for some way along 
the side of the road ; we had hardly passed over it a moment, 
when the train rushed by ; there is not even a slight fence to 
divide the iron from the common track, and they say horses get 
used to the cars, and men to the necessary caution, so that after 
a little practice, few accidents occur ; of course, cows and oxen 
and sheep are smashed now and then, but the Company pays, and 
that is all. I never cross these roads without a sensation of 
terror. Magnolia Cemetery is pretty ; it has a chapel built like 
a country church in England; in style, simple perpendicular 
Gothic, with a light and elegant spire. The grounds are orna- 
mented by a creek, which makes its way up from the Ettewan 
Kiver, and its waters, even here, are rather salt. I sketched the 
entrance and chapel, and then a fine live oak, with Charleston and 
the Accabee E,iver uniting itself to the ocean in the distance ; a 
foreground of tombs, which are here well chosen in point of taste, 
and without those white boundary posts which I have mentioned 
as disfiguring Greenwood, Hamilton, and some of the other bury- 
inor-orrounds in Canada and the United States, which are other- 
wise so far in advance of the mother country in sentiment and 
beauty. Republicanism forgets itself in the concerns of the grave 
and of immortality. Strange that when all are really supposed 
equal, love and truth banishes the equality which is emblematical 
of pride, and cultivates only the freedom of virtue ! There is 
more love of nature evinced in the cemeteries of America, than 
in the arrangements for the living ; life is the myth, eternity the 
reality of existence; beautiful flowers are cultivated for the dead; 



BELMONT. 205 

taste is pure, and feeling uncontaminated by dollars and cents. 
The monuments, tombs, and inscriptions are generally pathetic 
and interesting, free from the bombast and posthumous flattery 
too common in England. As the families are together in these 
last homes, usually the surname marks each entrance gate ; within, 
one often sees a marble urn, or slab, marked with little more than 
' our brother,' ' a dearly loved sister,' ' my wife,' ' little Addy,' 
' our kind parents,' ' two precious babes,' &c., &c. These simple 
words attract the sympathy of strangers and awaken the tender- 
ness of friends far more than eulogies. I never walk through 
these cemeteries without a sensation of pleasure derived from the 
consciousness of Christian brotherhood, rather than of sorrow 
from that of our common fate. Here I realize more that we 
shall all be made alive again, than that we shall all die. Till 
sunset we remained out ; there was little temptation to return 
home for dinner ; I was most willing to exchange it for tea ; and 
afterwards my pleasant Washington friend called and took me to 
a little dancing party, at the house of one of his married daugh- 
ters, where I saw young ladies more natural, and more gracefully 
and simply attired, than in the Northern States ; both the tone 
of voice and the choice of words and pronunciation are much 
more like old England as one proceeds further south ; the habits 
simpler and more unostentatiou??, and the dress of every-day wear 
is suitable and gentlewoman-like, instead of being, as in the North, 
unbecoming, stiiF, and extravagant ; the young women plastering 
their hair, and wearing silks fit for their grandmothers, and the 
middle-aged spending hours in repairing the ravages of time, by 
studious artificial contrivances, which, after all, make themselves 
evident to the most superficial observers. 

January 31. — I spent a delightful day with Mrs. H , who 

took me out to her cottage, four miles distant ; there we provi- 
sionally planted the ferns and other treasures I took up on Tues- 
day. She will let them grow there until I am ready to receive 
them at Boston, next September, to be planted in my Ward's case. 
Belmont is a charming spot ; it is (like the Southern ladies) not 
over dressed ; it has the Ettewan on one side, and the forest on 



206 OBSERVATIONS ON SLAVERY. 

the other ; slaves who are adopted children, and Irish labourers 
who have adopted a master and mistress. I begged to go into a 
neoTO cottage in the wood ; the parents were out, and we found 
only a covey of tiny ' darkies,'.from two years to eight — ' very like 
monkeys,' as Adeline would have said. The negro race never sit 
down to a meal if they can possibly avoid doing so ; they have 
always some sticks burning, and a kind of pot au feu ; in one 
corner of the tolerably comfortable abode was a fishing net, and 
another net held an omnium gatherum of eatables : no great 
attention to cleanliness, but the appearance of everything out of 
doors was like that of a small farm in England — cows, chickens, 
&c., &c. I beg to think we anti-slavers and abolitionists are as 
much blinded by names as the republicans, who think they have 
shaken off" an aristocracy, because they have got rid of dukes and 
duchesses, and lords and ladies. I must extract some observa- 
tions from a work published here, which my short experience of 
a slave country induces me unhesitatingly to adopt as my own. 

' Slavery may not be the best system of labour, but it is the best 
for the negro in this country. If it be true of the English soldier 
or sailor, that his condition has been ameliorated in the last fifty 
years, it is quite as true of the negro. Slavery is that system of 
labour which exchanges subsistence for work, which secures a life 
maintenance from the master to the slave, and gives a life labour 
from the slave to the master. Slavery is the negro system of 
labour : he is lazy and improvident ; slavery makes him work, 
and ensures him a home, food, and clothing; it provides for sick- 
ness, infancy and old age ; allows no tramping or skulking, and 
knows no pauperism. All cruelty is an abuse ; does not belong 
to the institution ; is contrary to law ; may be punished, prevented, 
and removed. If slavery is subject to abuses, it has its compen- 
sations also ; it establishes permanent, and therefore kind, relations 
between labour and capital. It does away with what Stuart Mill 
calls ' the widening and embittering feud between labour and capi- 
tal.' It draws close the relation between master and servant ; it 
is not an engagement for days, weeks, but for life. The most 
wretched feature in hireling labour is the isolated, miserable crea- 



OBSERVATIONS ON SLAVERY. 207 

ture who has no home, no work, no food, and in whom no one is 
particularly interested. Slavery does for the negro what Eu- 
ropean schemers in vain attempt to do for the hireling. On every 
plantation the master is a poor-law commissioner, to provide food, 
clothing, medicine, houses, for his people. He is a police officer 
to prevent idleness, drunkenness, theft, or disorder ; there is there- 
fore no starvation among slaves, and comparatively few crimes. 
The poet tells us there are worse things in the world than hard 
labour ; ' withouten that would come a heavier bale ;' and so there 
are worse things for the negro than slavery in a Christian land. 
Archbishop Hughes, in his visit to Cuba, asked Africans if they 
wished to return to their native country ; the answer was always. 
No. If the negro is happier here than in his own land, can we 
say that slavery is an evil to him ? Slaves and masters do not 
quarrel with their circumstances ; is it not hard that the stranger 
should interfere to make both discontented ? 

' All Christians believe that the affairs of this world are directed 
by God for wise and good purposes. The arrival of the negro in 
America makes no exception to that rule — his transportation was 
a rude method of emigration, the only practicable one in his case. 
Until this operation was interfered v/ith and made piratical, it was 
not attended with the wretchedness often exhibited by the emi- 
grant ship, even now, notwithstanding the passenger law. What 
the ultimate end of slavery may be we cannot presume to guess ; 
but we can see much good already resulting — good to the negro 
in his improved condition — ^good to the country whose rich fields 
he has made productive in climates at first unfit for the white 
man — and good to the continent of Africa, as furnishing the only 
means of effectually civilizing its people. Whether Mr. Clarkson 
or Lord Carlisle approve of the mode in which it has pleased 
Providence to bring this about, the result will probably be 
the same. There has been malignant abuse lavished upon the 
slave-holders of America by writers in this country and in Eng- 
land ; they consider abuses as its necessary condition, and a cruel 
master its fair representative. They have no knowledge of the 
thing abused ; they substitute an ideal for a reality. They have 



208 OBSERVATIONS ON SLAVERY. 

shown as little regard for truth and common sense, as we should 
do if we were to gather up all the atrocities committed in Great 
Britain by husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and 
servants, and denounce these several relations in life in consequence 
of their abuses. If because of the evils incident to hireling labour, 
because there are heartless, grinding employers, and miserable, 
starved labourers, it should be proposed to abolish work for hire, 
it would be quite as logical as the argument for the abolition of 
slavery because there are suffering among slaves, and hard hearts 
among masters. The cruelty or suffering is no more a necessary 
part of our system than it is of the other. To attempt to establish 
the hiring plan with Africans is as wise as to endeavour to establish 
the constitutional government of England in Ashantee or Daho- 
mey. Carlyle says that the world will not permit Cuffy to lie on 
his back and eat pumpkins forever, in a country intended by 
Providence to produce coffee, sugar, and spices for the use of all 
mankind ; and that he must, one of these days, resume his work 
for Brother Jonathan, or some other master. The blacks in Hayti 
have only changed masters ; they are the slaves of a black chief, 
as in Africa. Their pagan mummeries have been resumed ; they 
are engaged in petty wars instead of peaceful labours. The Em- 
peror has his standing army, and is as anxious as more important 
potentates to employ it in the legitimate business of cutting throats. 
The African cannot originate a civilization of his own ; from the 
slave civilized and instructed by slavery can any regeneration of 
the African continent be alone looked for. We must believe that 
Christianity will at last be established in Africa, and carry there 
the improvement which always attends its steps. This is not to be 
accomplished suddenly by any compulsive movement, but slowly, 
and gradually — it is in this way only that Providence effects his 
great purposes. The black race always perishes if placed, as 
manumission would place it, in competition with the white. There 
is an obvious and irremovable dissimirarit}^ between the white and 
black race. The number of blacks in Canada and in the Northern 
States is only kept up by the addition of freed or runaway slaves. 
In slavery they increase, as free they die out ; therefore it is that 



OBSERVATIONS ON SLAVERY. 209 

the blacks in America cannot be made free for their own sakes, 
even if it were desirable they should be for their masters. Manu- 
mission would injure both.' 

Alas ! for distant Philanthropy ! Whatever griefs and vices 
may be discovered in the Southern States, I fear their prototypes 
are to be discovered in London, in Paris, and even in New York. 
Let us take out the beam from our own eyes before we make our- 
selves so busy with the motes in those of our neighbour ; and in- 
stead of abusing each other, let us assist in bearing one another's 
burdens, and the sorrows and faults of each will be lessened by 
division. 

Friday, February 2. — Yesterday I saw much of interest in 

the Museum, had a pleasant dinner at Mrs. R 's, and went to 

an evening party at Mrs. J. de R 's. This day we embark 

for Savannah and Florida, to return the 15th, and to embark for 
Cuba the 19th. No time for more at present. Goodbye. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



LETTEE XVIII. 



Savannah, Georgia, ) 
February 4, 1855. f 



My dear Friends, — 

The Calhoun steamer left Charleston at four o'clock yester- 
day, and brought us here about three in the morning — a quiet 

and bright moonlight voyage. Mr. H , to whose care I was 

recommended by my friend Mr. R , of Liverpool, put me on 

board the vessel, and invited me to return to his house on the 15th, 
to take the Isabel for Cuba on the 19th. My last letter closed 
very hastily, as I had only just time to seal it before going on 
board. I do not know what you and our abolitionist friend 

F may think of my slavery conclusions. You will imagine 

that I have fallen under some evil influence ; but really we in 
England know as little about the domestic arrangements of these 
Southerners as they do about our great landholders in England 
I have been several times assured that the present Duchess of 
Sutherland depopulated the Highlands for the sake of raising 
sheep there. They confuse dates and facts, and confound the 
present Duchess with the old Countess Duchess, whose energetic 
plans aided the starving Celts she caused to emigrate, and that 
outlay of money may perhaps now tend towards the improvement 
of the estates of the present Duke. I fell in with a personification 
of ' Rebecca ' on board the Calhoun steamer. I was introduced 
when we embarked, and I felt myself attracted by her beautiful, 
melancholy face. When we got acquainted, she told me this sin- 
gular story : — At thirteen, she had run away from doting friends 



SAVANNAH. 211 

with her present husband, who, being a Christian, was not accept- 
able to them, and they refused forgiveness. Some years after, 
when she was on a steamer with her husband and a young babe, 
she was induced to sing ' Sweet Home' on deck, in the dark. A 
voice not far off said, in a beseeching way, ' Again, lady — pray 
again.' A vague feeling crossed her that its tone was familiar, 
still she hesitated to obey the request, when a friend near ex- 
claimed, * Yes, do ; it may be that the stranger is separated from 
those he loves.' She repeated the air, and no more was said. 
The next morning she saw her father in the vessel. She darted 
up towards him, but he turned his back upon her ; and her courage 
failing her, she attempted no other aj peal. Just after this he 
stopped the black nurse carrying her infant, took him in his arms, 
kissed his forehead, and said to a gentleman standing near, ' This 
is my grandson ; ' yet he forgave not ; and some months after- 
wards he died without asking to see his daughter or her child 
again. She is now a fifteen years' happy wife, with eight children, 
and has at last been invited to visit her former home alone. Her 
husband insisted upon her accepting this invitation, though it ex- 
cluded him, and to-morrow she will be received by slowly-forgiv. 
ing relations. I could not but sympathize with her feelings. 

Savannah seems a large town, with many pleasant squares, in 
one of which this (Pulaski) hotel is situated. It is so called in 
memory of a fine steamer of that name, which, before boilers were 
well regulated, blew up and engulfed members of almost all the 
principal families in this place. One family, consisting of thir- 
teen, lost eleven individuals ; only the father and one infant were 
left behind. In all the States of the Union I find complaints of 
poverty and public debt ; so that while the Central Government 
of Washington boasts of a superabundance of money, the Empire 
as a whole is little less involved than Great Britain. I think 
this fact is not understood in Europe ; and what is more, while 
the national debt seems not to clog prosperity in England, pover- 
ty makes itself very evident among the governments of the Fed- 
eral States. Matters of public utility are at a standstill in their 
chief cities. It is very easy for President and Congress to have 



212 ' SLAVE.' 

a surplus, as long as the Union remains at peace : taxes flow in, 
and there are few out-goings. In general, the local capitals are 
ill-paved, indiiferently drained, and poorly lighted, and the public 
buildings are few and badly kept. 

The air seems warmer here than at Charleston ; but I caught 
cold on board the steamer, which confines me to the house for to- 
day, and not having taken off my clothes last night, I do not feel 
very excursive. The Bishop of Georgia (Elliott), with his lady 
and a gentleman and some ladies I knew in the North, have called 
upon me. 
^ I find that the term ' Slave ' is rarely made use of in the 
/ South. The blacks are called ' our servants,' or more commonly 
/ 'our people.' We must remember that when slaves are to be 
disposed of, people in this country do not consider they are 
literally buying men^ but services^ and what we hear of, are the 
abuses not the laws of the system. Should a master ill-treat a 
slave, the law protects the latter ; and I am inclined to believe 
cases of such treatment are rare. If a slave violates the law, a 
judge sends to his master and says. This is your servant ; if you do 
not punish him, I must. Of course, the culprit much prefers to be 
corrected by his own master, by whom all extenuating circumstances 
are understood and allowed for ; and he is usually left in his hands. 
As I have said before, the blacks are children of larger 
growth. They are tricky, idle, and dirty. An excellent English 
housekeeper, who has the management of this house, tells me that 
it is impossible for them to get on with the motives that would 
influence whites. She is very averse to reporting any of the 
darkies as requiring correction [alias a whipping) ; but without 
the power of doing so, they would be utterly unmanageable. As 
it is, one white servant would do the work of three blacks. 
' Tom,' perhaps, has no other vocation than to light fires. I have 
been amused to watch the slow round-about way in which he 
performs the operation, never having all he wants at hand. This 
morning he brought no light ; so before preparing to light the 
fire he takes my wax candle, lights it, and lets it stand burning 
'iselessly. Then, after lighting the fire, he keeps the candle 



NEGRO CHARACTER. 



213 



burning for half an liour in broad daylight, while he goes through 
various evolutions about the cinders and the dust, till he has 
settled it all to his satisfaction : and it is of no use to suggest any 
quicker mode of proceeding. I must repeat, over and over again, 
our ideas of negro character, and its capabilities, are little 
grounded upon truth. 

We have cast aside the evidence of people who, with clear 
unbiassed judgment, have watched the African from his cradle to 
his grave, and taken the opinion and the advice of well-intentioned 
but hot-headed zealots, until we have damaged the cause of civil- 
ization, checked the progress of individuals of the black race, and 
at the same time done mischief to ourselves, and to fine islands 
and colonies which are now asrain tendino- towards barbarism. 
People of the Southern States might not be considered unpreju- 
diced witnesses of the present condition and prospects of our 
West Indian Islands; but I know from other sources, and I 
appeal to Englishmen for the truth of my information. Barba- 
does has already much deteriorated, and unless the power of 
landed acquisition by negroes receive some legal check (owing to 
the small disbursements necessary to their existence, and their 
giving no credit, with a deep laid intention of getting rid of white 
proprietors), the blacks will slowly but certainly gain possession 
of the island. The same process will follow in others ; and when 
too late, the British nation will come to a conviction that it 
must either re-conquer its West Indian Islands, or permit them 
to amalgamate with the United States, which by that time will 
be too wise to permit them to remain free black republics. There 
is no doubt the blacks are susceptible of education and improve- 
ment, to a certain extent, under white influence. The darkies of 
Baltimore and Virginia are a shade higher in the scale of im- 
provement than those of G-eorgia, from being more in approxima- 
tion with whites in a mass ; but you never can change the 
Ethiopian character, or wash white his skin. ' The pig will 
never grow into the lion.' Under good direction, it is a light- 
hearted, merry, unreflecting race, excitable and impulsive ; but 
it has a sense of justice, and can be attached, and be made an 



214 MISTAKE OF ENGLISH PIIILANTHP.OPISTS. 

honest, useful, and highly respectable servant, by judicions man- 
agement and early training. A weii-tauglit negro coachman 
drives admirably. They are apt at any mechanical employment. 
Some of them are very orderly, but put them out of a track to 
which they have been accustomed, and they rapidly lose them- 
selves. A lady here has taken great pains with a negro boy 
born in her family. I was amused to see him standing behind 
her chair, with a tray under his arm, like a little black statue. 
He never forgets to come at a particular hour for her orders ; 
but the teaching him to read is no small undertaking. He goes 
on the box of the carriage, and well performs any accustomed 
duty ; but if jou ask him to take a knife and dig up a plant, he 
looks utterly bewildered. 

What are we doing ? Instead of bringing away the African 
race, to return them in a generation or two, educated for the im- 
provement and enlightenment of Africa, are we not re-harharizing 
the Christian world by giving fair fields back again into savage 
hands ? Negro Christians left to their own guidance fall sooner 
or later again into pagan habits. Inquire of the British consuls ; 
ask the admirably devoted clergy and bishops of this land ; take 
the convictions of any persons of experience and judgment who 
have lived among blacks. No discrepancies will be found in such 
opinions ; but our people and our Governments of the last forty 
years have been led away by pre-conceived notions ; they have 
listened only to well-intentioned, but weak religionists; and 
under a mistaken impression that they promoted freedom and 
Christianity, have they been giving encouragement to ultimate 
bondage and paganism. It appears that ' in this world God pun- 
ishes weakness as well as wickedness. If we have intended vir- 
tuously as a nation, have we not acted weakly ? Instead of being 
surprised that these slave proprietors feel themselves insulted and 
aggrieved by the manner in which English philanthropists have 
viliiied and abused them, I am only astonished at the patience 
and gentleness with which they have endured our calumnies. 
They are just and kind towards us in spite of our faults, and for 
the sake of good intention, they forgive. It is said the ' Injurer 



buonaventuha cemetery. 215 

never forgives ; ' let us beware how we realize that adage. Amor.g 
a large class in the North I found a jealous and unkind spirit to- 
wards the old country ; the reverse of this may be said of the 
South. I have observed a noble, generous, gentlemanly spirit in 
this part of the Union ; I feel assured that if the Southern pro- 
prietors, as a class, had found reason to believe that the institu- 
tion of Slavery was prejudicial either to the Christian or temporal 
interests of the blacks, they have chivalry enough in their com- 
position to have cast aside mere motives of private interest ; but 
they knew, and we did not know — that was the difference. They 
have a right to accuse us of ignorance and conceit, and they are 
more forbearing than we had any claim to expect, I will try not 
again to recur to this subject till I get to Cuba, but it meets me 
so at every turn here, it is difficult to refrain. 

Savannah^ February 6. — Yesterday, I had a pleasant break- 
fast with Mr. and Mrs. H , to meet Dr. Elliott, as amiable 

and excellent as his friend and brother of Pennsylvania, He re- 
mained among his iiock during the yellow fever, or rather plague, 
of the last autumn, the consoler and the nurse of old and young, 
and he escaped that pestilence all through a diocese as large as 
Great Britain. He is sincerely loved and truly valued, and 
amidst his onerous duties he neither scorns nor neglects the study 
of nature. 

After breakfast. Miss T took me a delightful drive to the 

Cemetery of Buonaventura. We went part of the way through a 
forest, even now full of interest for the eye of a botanist. Rare 
pines, magnolias, Gelucinum sempervirens (here called Jessa- 
mine), fan palms, cactuses, live oaks, and palmetto trees, not, as 
in the Northern forests, set like pins in a pincushion, but suffi- 
ciently apart to allow for increasing size, with airy glades and a 
lovely undergrowth. 

Buonaventura once belonged to a gentleman of old family 
here ; he planted five avenues of live oaks verging to a centre, 
where stood his residence. That house was burned down ; a de- 
creased income obliged the family to part with their beautiful 
place, and it was bought by speculators, who are realizing largi 



216 A COLLISION. 

sums by turning it into a cemetery ; it is a most appropriate spot 
for the purpose. The live oaks form arches equal to those of 
cathedrals ; while the Tillandsia, weeping from every branch of 
every tree, unartificially sympathizes with mourners, and adds 
solemnity to the whole scene. Two palmettos standing near the 
entrance to the old house are magnificent specimens of that noble 
tree. I obtained some young seedlings from them, which I hope to 
carry safely across the Atlantic. We came home by a rice plan- 
tation and negro village, with its neat and comfortable houses ; 
but in their interiors the people evince no ideas of tidiness or com- 
fort. My negro woman at Sandwich had the only neat room I 
have as yet seen among them. I was assured by everyone on Sat- 
urday, that the Seminole steamer for Palatka would start at ten 
o'clock this morning; now I am told not till four in the after- 
noon. I hope this afternoon start will not turn out to be mid- 
night, as at Detroit. 

Da7'ien, February 9. — Some days of adventure. It was mid- 
night before the Seminole left Savannah f(>r Palatka, owing to a 
necessity for repairs which the captain could not get executed — 
such is the slowness of negro work-people ; but a brilliant moon 
made everything nearly as visible as day, I was tired, and af- 
ter a while got into my berth without undressing — a precaution I 
had every reason to be glad of; for, about two^^o'clock I was 
awakened by a terrible crash of timber on my side the vessel, 
only a few yards to the left of my head. I was sure a collision 
had occurred, and rushed out to ascertain whether the water was 
likely to rush in, the Arctic strongly in my imagination. I saw 
that a schooner had run directly into the paddle-box, just beyond 
my berth, and completely smashed that wheel. The man at the 
helm of the intruding vessel must have been asleep ; suddenly 
awakened by the noise of our steamer, he steered his boat the 
wrong way, and before our pilot could do anything, she was 
plump into us. Had he only continued the course he was on, 
when asleep, we should have passed without damage ; as it was, he 
broke his own bowsprit straight off, sprung his foremast, and 
crippled us thoroughly; so that all our captain could do was 



RETURN TO SAVANNAH. 217 

to cast anchor (fortunately within the bar of the Savannah 
River), and send off a "boat instantly, eighteen miles to the town, 
for relief. 

A tedious time we had of it till five o'clock, "Wednesday, 
when a steamer came down, attached herself to our ivell side, and 
took the poor Seminole safely back to the wharf, from which she 
had started the day before. It was no use to give way to terror 
about proceeding in consequence of the singular accident which 
had occurred ; I convinced myself we were not likely to meet 
with anything unpleasant again immediately ; and, after all, feel- 
ings of thankfulness were those uppermost in my mind, that we 
had passed such a danger unscathed. I decided to set forth again 
by the St. John steamer, at eight o'clock next morning. Poor 

R could not get over the fright ; and if there had been any 

back door to have run out of, for the first time I suspect she 
was almost inclined to desert ; however, with a melancholy ex- 
pression, she became resigned, and we returned to the Pulaski 
Hotel to sleep ; for though Captain Postell was very kind, and 
offered us our berths on board, we were too much tired and ex- 
hausted not to seek quiet beds on shore. As in most bad cases 
there is compensation, so here good came out of evil. A common 
misfortune made me well acquainted with two agreeable and su- 
perior men. President Wheeler, of Burlington College, and Dr. 
Turner, of Savannah. They took charge of us as if we had 
been their sisters ; smoothed every difficulty, and as it turned out, 
there being no hotel or place of reception at Darien, if we had 
succeeded in landing there the first night, we should have been 
thrown into an awkward situation. Now, Dr. Turner went on 
shore there to prepare accommodations; and he and the Professor 
took us to the house of a hospitable Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who 
gave us a comfortable bed in their nursery, evidently putting 
themselves to some temporary inconvenience to take in the stran- 
gers. This place, Darien, is where Gen. Oglethorpe entrenched 
himself during the war ; it is singular in appearance, and must 
be pretty in summer. Now, from the absence of all bright green, 
and the grey tinge thrown over vegetation by the Tiliandsia, it 
10 



218 



PLANTATION. 



has a very original look. The houses are mostly scattered, built 
of a kind of oyster-shell compost, the usual material hereabouts ; 
these oysters and mussels are thrown up in banks upon the shores 
of the Walaki (St. John's) Eiver, and the brackish lakes, which 
here form a chain, sometimes communicating with the sea, some- 
times joining the rivers, all the way from Savannah, upon this 
Georgian coast. It is a singular navigation ; one moment we 
stole along between swamps of high grass, where it was not possi- 
ble for the steamer to get through the narrow bends except by 
the assistance of a towing-boat ; then we went out into the sea ; 
then we came back into a wide river, but so shallow that we were 
frequently sticking fast in the mud ; and at last, at night, we 
reached Darien. Fortunately a four-oared canoe-like boat, of 
Mr. Hamilton Cooper's, had come down from his plantation on 
the Altamaha, upon some business. Dr. Turner insured our be- 
ing taken up with him ; we met Mr. Cooper also by accident, 
and after a very pleasant row of about five miles, he brought us 
to his English-like house (as respects the interior) and interesting 
home, my first resident introduction to plantation life. A happy 
attached negro population surrounds this abode; I never saw 
servants in any old English family more comfortable, or more 
devoted; it is quite a relief to see anything so patriarchal, after 
the apparently uncomfortable relations of masters and servants in 
the Northern States. I should much prefer being a ' slave ' here, 
to a grumbling saucy ' help ' there ; but everyone to their tastes. 
We left the river about a quarter of a mile from the house, and 
came up a narrow canal, between rice plantations, almost to the 
door ; we passed two or three large flat boats, laden with rice ; 
and Mr. Cooper took me to see the threshing machine which 
was at work in a barn ; the women putting in the rice just as we 
do our grain; they were more comfortably dressed than our 
peasantry, and looked happier ; otherwise (except the complex- 
ions) the scene was much of the same kind as that at a threshing- 
barn in England. It is in vain to intend keeping silence upon 
the one thought that must be uppermost in a mind accustomed 
from childhood to erroneous views upon the Slavery question ; 



THE AFRICAN RACE. 2l9 

and I may as well write on. I now see the great error we have 
committed is in assuming that the African race is equal in capa- 
ity with the European ; and that under similar circumstances it is 
capable of equal moral and intellectual culture. 

The history of Egypt, of Eome, of the English, French, and 
Spanish Colonies, and the experience of American slavery, prove 
the reverse. No separate African civilization has sprung up 
from centuries of contact. St. Domingo has relapsed into bar- 
barism, except in the case of some of the towns. The other 
emancipated colonies, not excepting Jamaica, are retrograding 
fast in the face of a white population, and notwithstanding Gro- 
vernment influence : in the United States, spite of more than 
a hundred years of white association, though they have been 
made rather superior to their brethren in Africa, in intellect and 
moral character, they remain, and ever will remain, inferior to 
the whites. I believe, and must not hesitate to confess my be- 
lief, the negro race is incapable of self-government ; and I sus- 
pect its present condition in the United States is practically the 
best that the character of the negroes admits of. It is for their hap- 
piness and interest to remain in tutelage — at any rate for two or 
three generations. Is there any part of Africa, the West Indies, 
or South America, where three millions of negroes are to be found 
as comfortable, intelligent, and religious, or as happy, as in the 
Southern States ? The most practical mode of improving a semi- 
barbarous race is to pla,ce it in the proportion of one to two in the 
midst of a civilized people. The system of slavery has been 
blamed for the ignorance and vices of the Africans : are they less 
ignorant or more virtuous where slavery does not exist ? It I as 
pleased Providence to make them barbarian, and as barbar'an 
they must be governed, however Christian may be the principles 
and feelings of their masters. One of the mistakes we make is to 
attribute to a black the ideas and refined feelings of a white, and 
then we imagine his sufferings under circumstances of comparative 
degradation ; but happily what would be intolerable to the refined 
and cultivated is easily borne by the obtuse and ignorant. ' God 
tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.' That evil must always ex- 



220 DEBTS OF THE STATES. 

ist under any system of almost irresponsible power is certain ; and 
there are, of course, painful exceptions to the generally kind, pa- 
rental, and just rule of Southern planters; hut these ure the ex- 
ceptions. The duty of Slave States and slave-owners is, hy law 
and practice, to limit arbitrary power. The condition of the race 
at present admits of no higher government, and the duty of all 
real philanthropists is to aid and support the masters in their ef- 
forts to ameliorate painful circumstances, by kind, liberal, and 
temperate suggestions of such correction as the system will admit 
of As the Abolitionist is powerless, he should feel that ' moral 
suasion ' is his only means of operating. If he means well by the 
slave, he will not create angry feelings in the master by inflam- 
matory appeals to his people. I have heard individuals lauded 
for giving freedom to their slaves ; my observations lead me to 
believe that such people have only cast off an onerous and painful 
responsibility. One of the most intelligent and independent black 
men I ever heard of, born free in Canada, said, ' I know enough 
to know that my race is not either happier or better for what is 
called freedom. I would myself rather have been born a slave ! ' 
He was asked why he did not go to Liberia. ' No,' he said, 'Re- 
publics are quite unfit for us — I will have nothing to do with 
them.' 

Hopeton^ Fehruary 12. — I went yesterday through a forest 
of Pinus palustris to a spot where it is Mr. Cooper's intention 
to build a house to be called Altama. It will be beautifully 
situated on the edge of a pine barren, a sloping thicket of live 
oaks, magnolias, and fan palms, on one side, ending in rice plan- 
tations, with distant forest and river views extending towards 
Darien. This place was once the site of an Indian village, and I 
picked up fragments of their pottery. But there are now none 
of the Aborigines left in the Southern States. General Jackson 
removed all westward. I have had some conversation with Mr. 
Hamilton Cooper about the monetary affairs of the States. He 
says my remarks respecting the local debts are just, as respects a 
few of the States and cities, but that generally they are trifling 
when compared with their means and resources. In 1853, the 



AN UNFAVOURABLE CONTRAST. 22t 

aggregate State debt was about fifty millions sterling — that of 
Georgia sixty- three thousand. Pennsylvania is the most in- 
debted ; but there the debt is not more than ten per cent, on the 
property of the State. Complaints of poverty at present are 
temporary, the result of reckless speculation. Evidences of wealth 
and prosperity in America must be sought for among the masses, 
not in public works of governmental origin ; and the absence 
of appearance in State capitals must not be mistaken for State 
poverty. Money is laid out ; but it is expended in magnificent 
hotels, in private residences, churches, schools, banks, railroads, &c. 
&c., in all objects ministering to individual enjoyment and to 
reproductive purposes. Corporate associations do all those things 
required for public convenience which are beyond individual 
ability, but public buildings and public works are generally put 
aside, or made a secondary consideration. I forgot to mention 
that there are from three to four hundred negroes on this estate. 
Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have no white servants ; their family con- 
sists of six sons and two daughters. I should not like to inhabit 
a lonely part of Ireland, or even Scotland, surrounded only by 
three hundred Celts. I believe there is not a soldier or police- 
man nearer than Savannah, a distance of sixty miles. Surely 
this speaks volumes for the contentment of the slave population. 
When I think of the misery and barbarism of the peasantry of 
Kiutail, and other parts of Scotland (putting aside that of Ire- 
land), and look at the people here, it is hardly possible not to 
blush at the recollection of all the hard words I have heard ap- 
plied to the slave-holder of the South. Why, the very pigsties 
of the negroes are better than some Celtic hovels I have seen. 
Mr. Cooper is under some difiiculty about a negro family he took 
in trust to manumit from the produce of their own labor. The 
poor people are averse to being freed, and especially to being sent 
to Africa. It certainly seems a cruelty to force them to accept 
that which they consider no boon. I believe this is a dilemma by 
no means rare. 

February 13. — Actually another white frost ; every one says 
such cold is uncommon ; I find the weather now, much like ours 



222 NEGRO INDOLENCE. 

at this time of year, and I expect the Chamaerops serrulata, and 
other plants which do not seem affected by the cold we have here 
now, will be quite hardy in the West of England. The red maple 
is in bloom ; I have not ascertained the species yet, but it is quite 
new to me, and a very showy, elegant thing. Upon looking to 
Elliot's Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, I find this tree 
is Acer rubra ; it has a smooth, clouded bark, and in damp, rich 
soils becomes a large tree ; but near the sea, where salt forms a 
component part of the soil, it dwindles into a small shrub. I 
have been wandering about among the negro dwellings, seeing the 
ugly babes and still uglier old people ; only one individual in bed 
in the hospital, and five or six in the male and female wards, 
cowering round the fires. Mr. Cooper tells me he once tried the 
capabilities of some of the most active among his people, by giv- 
ing them the cultivation of fifty acres for themselves ; the first 
season, under direction, the plantation cleared fifteen hundred 
dollars, which he took care to give them in silver, hoping that 
would excite their industry ; the next year, left to their own man- 
agement, the crop lessened one half; and the third season they 
let the land run to waste, so that it was useless to permit them to 
retain it. Yet these very same people will labour readily and 
pleasantly under good superintendence. 

In warm weather alligators are frequently seen, but now they 
remain torpid in their watery or muddy dens. They are not able 
to pursue and catch live creatures on shore, although they like to 
bask in the sun ; but if a young negro child, a calf, or a pig, lies 
down carelessly at the edge of the water, these American croco- 
diles use their tails to whisk such prey down where they can 
devour it at their leisure. A Southern lady told me that her 
son once brought home some alligator's eggs. She placed them 
upon a table ; forty-eight hours afterwards, upon hearing a black 
girl scream, her mistress rushed down stairs : the warmth of the 
parlour had hatched three young alligators, two were running 
about the room, a third had been thrown out of the window, and 
in the fright of the moment, all were killed, to the grief of the 
boy, who would gladly have made them pets. 



ALLIGATORS. 



223 



I have been out to sketch the house and plantation ; the air 
is warm and genial— nothing to remind us of this morning's frost. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



Q-^O'-^ 0^^..0 O'^O-^ OV^^.O O^^.O O'^^o 



LETTER XIX. 

IIOPETON, AlTAMAIIA RlVEE, GeOROIA, ) 

Wednesday, FebnLo.ry 14, 1855. J 

My dear Friends, — 

I hope my last letter arrived safely. Mr. Cooper sent 
down to Darien with it, so there is a good margin of time before 
the mail is closed for the 24th instant. After the sharp white 
frost of Monday, we had rain yesterday, and the folks here hope 
winter has at last taken his departure ; there is a bright sun this 
morning, and I expect to see vegetation advance rapidly, when 
once it fairly starts for the summer. Only six da^/s will be left 
for my Florida tour, and yet if I had been able to proceed sooner, 
the weather would not have been favourable. I may get to Palat- 
ka, Friday evening ; in the next three days the orange-groves and 
Silver Springs must be accomplished, to leave one clear day for 
St. Augustine, where I should like to spend a week ; but we 
must return to Savannah, so as to take the steamer which leaves 
for Charleston, the 24th. A glimpse of Florida is better than 
not seeing it at all ; with that I must be content. I cannot find 
myself dull with this pleasant family ; yesterday we did all sorts 
of things, just as I should have done among my own belongings 
in England. We cooked, and drew, and studied natural history. 
It has given me pleasure myself to pick up some interesting fresh- 
water and land shells in the rice ground ; then I liked to hear 
all about the negro weddings ; how the young ladies make the 
cake, &c., &c. ; and I was amused by an account of one little 



SLAVE HONESTY. 225 

Topsy, who could not resist cents when they fell in her way ; her 
mistress thought that by giving a few to her to take care of, she 
might be brought to some idea of mine and thine ; but when the 
pence were asked for, they had vanished. With a sad face the 
child said, * All gone ; somebody tiefed from me.' Soon after- 
wards she said to one of the negro girls, ' Me very sorry, me 
could not help; me tiefed from myself It is not often the 
blacks of this country are dishonest, but they sometimes reason 
in this way : ' I belong to massa, all massa has belongs to me ; ' 
and there is some difficulty in preserving onions or fruits, because 
they are thought to be common property; they fish, and trap, 
and catch game ; and if guns were allowed them, everything 
would be destroyed. The only security for fish and game is 
keeping the ' darkies ' well employed ; and such is their feeling 
towards their master, that in some cases where freshets have put 
his crops in danger, they have worked freely eighteen hours out 
of the twenty-four, for three weeks, to save them — more than 
they would have done for themselves in such a case. The thanks 
of Mr. Cooper, and a few little presents, make them quite happy : 
they are devoted servants, and miserable free people. This fact 
it is impossible to state too often or too decidedly. The Creator 
of men formed them for labor under guidance, and there is pro- 
bably a providential intention of producing some good Christian 
men and women out of it in time. We have been blindly 
endeavouring to counteract this intention ; we have thought our- 
selves wiser than our forefathers in all points, because we have 
advanced beyond them in others ; and it has been the habit for 
us in England to believe ourselves more religious, and virtuous, 
and benevolent than these slaveholders ; whereas, I fear there is 
a greater amount of irreligion and vice in one town of ours, or 
of the Northern States here, than in all the Southern States put 
together. When I watch the kindness, the patience, the consid- 
eration shown by white gentlemen and gentlewomen towards 
these * darkies,' I could say to some anti-slavery people I have 
known, ' Go thou, and do likewise,' There is such a sense of 
security in this country, that doors and windows are as often left 
10* 



226 BRUNSWICK. 

unfastened at night as not ; and a slaveholder told me he had 
lived alone for eight years among his negroes, without once think- 
ing it necessary to lock a door or bar a v/indow. 

February 15. — I spent two hours in the pine barrens and 
swamps yesterday, with some young friends, gathering seeds and 
taking up plants which I am going to send to England. How- 
ever beautiful the flowers may be in May, this season is more ad- 
vantageous to a gardener, because now roots can be moved with 
more safety. Mr. Cooper will go with me to Brunswick, where 
the St. John steamer calls, at three or four o'clock to-morrow 
morning, in her way to Palatka. 

St. Augustine^ February 19. — Brunswick is little more than 
the promise of a future town, but it is in a healthy situation, 
where there might be a fine park, at present there is only an 
hotel. Streets are marked out, and there are many pretty de- 
tached villas. Our way to it was over a deep sandy road, through 
the pine barren, and a continual undergrowth of that palm with 
a saw-like stem, and fan leaf (Chama3rops serrulata), from the 
leaves of which pretty baskets are manufactured, and I imagine 
hats might be made equal to those of Leghorn ; it grows all 
about this extensive white sand district, as thick as fern with us, 
and I think it would be hardy in the southwestern parts of Eng- 
land. As we approached Brunswick, fine specimens of the tree 
or cabbage palmetto were by the wayside ; with difficulty we took 
up young ones for seedlings ; some run so deep into the ground 
it is hard to move them. A very primitive kind of post-office 
may be observed in these forests ; boxes v/ithout any lock nailed 
to a tree, into which, when a mail passes, letters are occasionally 
dropped. 

The St. John steamer arrived soon after midnight, but the 
tide did not rise sufficiently for her to leave till near three in 
the morning, because she would not have been able to cross the 
bar of the St. John Biver. The following day proved bright and 
sunshiny, though cold for the climate ; in the North the weather 
has continued severe, with deep snow. Before entering the bar 
at the mouth of the St. John (or Walaka) Biver, we had to cross 



PALATKA. 227 

the open sea for some miles. I saw palmettos, at least seventy 
or eighty feet high, upon the sandbanks as we entered the river ; 
it is said their roots reach to the clay beneath, but they do not 
appear to require either rich or marshy land. The sand here is 
just like that at Bournemouth in Hampshire ; but on this coast 
It extends over many hundred miles. I have seen nothing else 
all the way from Savannah ; it has evidently been the bottom of 
the sea, and above it is a bed of shells, much resembling those of 
Hordwell Cliff, in England ; and there is a tract of still more 
recent formation, between Brunswick and Hopeton, where the 
bones of the megatherium, &c. &c., are found in large quantities. 
A railroad is at present left in an unfinished state, as you approach 
Brunswick. Some of these days, if it is carried into the interior, 
that place will become of importance. "We touched at a small 
village called Mayport, on the Walaka Biver ; there the steamer 
grounded, and detained us for some hours, till the rise of the tide. 
I went on shore and picked up a curious little prickly fish, a plate 
bone of an alligator, and shells, among them some curiously-shaped 
oysters and delicate little pholases. We got off about four o'clock, 
and proceeded to Jacksonville ; the sun set finely before we reached 
that place. This water resembles more a series of inland lakes 
than a river. We passed Magnolia and Picolata in the night, 
and reached Palatka about six in the morning. There I found 
it was not possible to get any conveyance to the Orange Springs 
before Monday, so I determined to return as far as Picolata in 
the steamer, and get across a pine barren to visit St. Augustine, 
as there will be time enough for me to be back at Palatka for the 
next mail. We had a delightful passage down again, through 
the still calm waters of the wide Walaka. Each shore fringed 
by live oaks, with occasional palmettos, and now and then an 
orange-grove — but oranges are very scarce, since a severe frost 
some years ago destroyed nearly all the trees. I have seen no 
fruit whatever, since the oranges and bananas imported to Charles- 
ton from Cuba. We got a rough carriage at Picolata ; it was of 
a light description, and drawn by two large horses ; but the deep 
white sand continued the whole eiorhtecn miles to St. Augustine 



228 A SHELL LAND. 

and it took us nearly five hours to get through it. I begin to 
see blossoms by the wayside ; a pretty white Rubus, looking like 
a single rose, I never saw before, and a very large violet without 
scent, a pretty white Tussilago, or aster-looking plant, about three 
inches from the ground {Chaptalia), the white star-like Hous- 
tonia in bright patches, and the fragrant yellow Gi-elucinum, run- 
ning among the bushes, and up nearly to the top of trees in occa- 
sional swamps ; a tiny white violet below, with Andromedas, 
Gordonias, and Yucca filimentosa, now and then by the side of 
our track. 

We crossed the branch of the St. Sebastian River, and a 
dismal-looking marsh near St. Augustine. Soon after my arri- 
val, President Wheeler, of Burlington, and Mr. Myers took me 
to see the ancient Spanish fort, built of Cucino, a stone formed 
entirely of shell debris. This is a shell land ; houses and walls 
made of shells, ground made of shells. I have got some recent 
ones — a fine large pholas, prima mactras, &c. &., but none I 
have seem to have the gorgeous colouring of those in the South. 
Two fine date trees stand in the garden of Mr. Myers's house. 
I do not know if these are remarkable specimens, but they have 
far exceeded my expectations ; the regularly tiled bark, crowned 
by feathery foliage, more gigantic and noble-looking even than the 
Palmetto I admire so much, and the fruit (which hangs even now 
in wreaths between the leaves), when it has its golden purplish 
hue, must be beautiful. 

I am disappointed to find that this place is not upon the main 
sea, but upon the St. Sebastian, which is rather a creek than a 
river. The streets are extremely narrow, and in general appear- 
ance the town is bare and dilapidated. Here, as well as at Bruns- 
wick, a railroad would soon be the means of improvement and 
ultimate prosperity ; but I suppose there is not capital enough to 
construct one even over this fiat country, with timber on every 
side easily turned into sleepers ; only sixteen miles of rail would 
reach the St. John's (Walaka), but I do not hear of any proposi- 
tion to make it. 

Silver Spr'ing, Florida^ February 21. — At last I have got to 



BOTANIZING. 229 

this place, without regretting the trouble of coming two hundred 
and thirty miles from Savannah, although my journey has been a 
tedious and difficult one. Even with my superficial knowledge 
of geology, I find the features of this country very interesting ; 
both at Ocala and here, there is a kind of chalk and greensand 
with the fossils belonging to a cretaceous formation, and the Sil- 
ver Spring bursts forth just like many streams and springs in 
Dorsetshire, clear and bright as crystal ; but I must go back to 
St. Augustine before I say more about this part of Florida. I 
got a kind of open vehicle with four horses, which in five hours 
took us to Picolata — there the Charleston steamer Caroline^ 
which would take passengers on to Palatka, was expected ; and 
we got shelter in a shed belonging to an Englishman, who acted 
as postmaster. It rained hard, but I took my umbrella, and 
walked out to look for plants in a wood near. Growing by a shed, 
I found a Solamen, new to me, which had been brought from the 
West ; it was a shrub with white flowers and soft cottony leaves 
on, and growing under the trees. I gathered white blossoms of 
the beautiful little creeping Rubus I had before seen, like a small 
white rose ; it resembled one much both in leaves and flowers. I 
also picked up seeds of the red maple, which also grows on the 
banks of the Altamaha, but then not forward enough. 

The Caroline came about five o'clock ; she was a swift boat, 
but less comfortable in point of accommodation than the St. JoJiUf 
as the ladies' cabin was below, and there was no pleasant place 
upon which to sit out upon deck. However, as the evening con- 
tinued rainy, that did not signify. We reached Palatka about 
eight; and by nine next morning, a comfortable mail carriage 
with four horses took us in, bound, as I believed, for the Silver 
Spring, a place about seventy-six miles from hence. If I had 
known that we should not arrive there till after midnight, fifteen 
hours' travel, with one man driving four horses through a pine 
barren, which harbours wolves, bears, and panthers, my courage 
would have failed me. At last, when we reached our journey's 
end, T found myself not at the Silver Spring, but at a place called 
Ooala, which I had never before heard of; and I have since dis- 



230 DEMOCRATIC DESPOTISM. 

covered that, owing to the abuse of power in this republican coun- 
try, I was made to go six miles out of my way, because the post- 
master, who has a small boarding-house near the Spring, was not 
a supporter of this President; so the democrats got the mail 
altered to Ocala, for the purpose of damaging Mr. Mann ; and 
although there might be a practicable water-carriage by the Och- 
lawaha, straight from Palatka to the Silver Springs, where there 
is a perfect inland harbour for steamers, which ought to make 
that place a considerable one, with fair usage, — that harbour has 
been neglected or discouraged ; so that cotton must be dragged 
the whole way we have come in bullock-wagons. Such an act of 
despotism could never have been perpetrated in monarchical Eng- 
land ; after all, the most truly free country in the world. 

At midnight, cold, wet, and dark, we at last reached Ocala. 
I fortunately had some tea with me ; I begged some hot water, 
and a black girl brought in one hand an open iron pan, with the 
water escaping fast out of a hole ; in the other, the remains of a 
china teapot without spout or handle. 

' Missus, which shall I make it in ? ' 

I said we had better put the tea into the one that had no hole 
in the bottom, and so wc made something like tea. Next morn- 
ing I was surprised to find some bits of greensand rock containing 
fossils, which first made me suppose there must be something like 
chalk in the neighbourhood. I asked where there had been dig- 
ging, and Mrs, B , sister to the landlord, who entered into 

the matter, proposed to walk with me to a spot, through the 
nearest hummock (or small wood), where there had been an abor- 
tive attempt to sink a well. She got a negro boy to guide us, and 
I found the spot ; a shaft had been sunk to the depth of sixty 
feet, and there, sure enough, were fossils, Nummulites; pectens, 
&c., &c. 

At first I was told it was not possible to get to Silver Spring. 
But at last, wdth some difiiculty I procured two one-horse wagons, 

which took 11 and me to the little cottage hotel near the 

Silver Spring, from wlience I now write ; it is kept by the post- 
\jiaster, Mr. Mann, who three or four years ago bought some land. 



THE SILVER SPRING. 231 

and settled here from Georgia. He and his good wife make us as 
much at home as they can by the side of their comfortable pine 
blaze, which is fire and candle in one ; and with the aid of a 
feather bed and blankets, I did not suffer from cold in the night, 
although the roof was not wholly closed from the air, and light 
showed between the planked walls ; frost outside. For twenty 
years such severe weather has not been known in these parts, and 
all still looks wintry. 

T have been in a little boat upon the bright clear water, 
which in some places is forty feet deep, issuing freely, I suppose, 
out of the greensand rock below, which looks as if made out of 
solid aquamarine — every fish, and shell, and weed is perfectly 
visible. This silver stream flows a good sized river five miles, 
and then joins the Ochlawaha, which runs into the St. John's 
twenty miles above Palatka ; and though it may be double the 
land distance from that place, the water carriage would be much 
pleasanter and more rapid .than wading through about seventy 
miles of sandy, swampy pine barrens. I now find that a stage 
which passed ours on the road actually came straight by this 
place from Palatka, so I should have paid twelve dollars less, and 
we should have arrived here some time earlier, and not have had 
the difficulty of getting back again here, if it had suited the views 
or the interests of Palatka to let me know the Silver Spring was 
nearer than Ocala ; — but I find, in this country, travellers must 
always be on their guard against false information, given from the 
selfish rivalry of parties or individuals ; in this respect, America 
is worse than any part of the world I ever before visited. Mr. 
Robert Chambers was either much mistaken or grossly deceived 
when he published a letter asserting the absence of imposition at 
the hotels. For less real comfort, I have as yet been made to 
pay everywhere (with the one exception of Cleveland on Lake 
Erie) far more than in England ; upon an average at about ten 
pounds a week for my maid and self, taking our meals at the pub- 
lic table, and without a private sitting-room. This exceeds any- 
thing I ever paid in any country in Europe ; and there is neither 
appeal nor redress. Whether you dine out every day or not, no 



232 TIGER CAT. 

difference is made in your hotel expenses. It is true you may 
generally console yourself by the use of gorgeous mirrors, silk 
curtains, and splendid carpets ; but few travellers wish for this 
kind of accommodation. Mr. Mann drove me yesterday to see 

the plantation of Mr. P , a gentleman's place, where there is 

a really fine grove of orange trees ; they are indigenous, some of 
them standing in - a clearing, and others, as undergrowth in the 
forest, extending down to the river which flows from the Silver 
Spring. Some of these are thirty feet high, loaded with fruit of a 
kind called here the ' bitter-sweet ; ' they are good, if all the pulp 
is carefully taken out ; but eaten without that operation they are 
as bitter as what we call Seville oranges. I saw several little 
green paroquets with yellow heads, the only kind of parrot com- 
mon in Florida. Rattlesnakes are frequent, but they always get 
out of the way, if they can ; wolves and panthers, too, are only 
dangerous to sheep and dogs. A gentleman hunting in this 
neighbourhood lately, on a mule, the -animal trod upon a snake, 
which stung him so that he died in a few minutes ; and some days 
ago, a tiger cat jumped out upon a negro, who drove it off by a 
stab with his knife ; but the man's clothes were torn, and he was 
so terribly frightened that he could give no clear account of his 
assailant ; these are the only casualties from wild beasts I have 
heard of, and I have seen nothing of the kind to alarm me. I 
have not even got a sight of an alligator yet, and the only re- 
markable birds I have observed, were a bald-headed eagle on the 
Altamaha River, and a very dim-coloured kite. 

From the inquiries I have made, and my own observations, I 
suspect that the centre part of Florida was once an island, di- 
vided from the main land by a strait, which went across where a 
dismal swamp may now be seen ; the sea, probably, extended 
from about St. Augustine to Savannah, across to Apalachicola ; 
and from thence, towards Picolata and Alligator, the country 
begins to rise ; then comes a volcanic and then the chalk district ; 
and I understand there are higher limestone ridges further south, 
where the land falls down to the plains of the Everglades ; a 
tribe of Seminole Indians (so called because they are runaways 



OCALA. 233 

from the Creeks) still haunt those Everglades. The United 
States Government have military stations or posts to prevent 
them from coming further north ; and some endeavours will be 
made to induce them to follow the other Indian nations westward. 
A chief once consented to such an arrangement, but his people 
refused to ratify it. The wood they call ' kindling' {Pinus pa- 
lustris). Game, fish, and yams are so plentiful in the South, it 
is not to be wondered at that the poor savages are loth to emi- 
grate to the cold north-west ; but their fate is sealed ; go they 
must, sooner or later, before the encroaching white man ; how- 
ever sad, there i« no alternative. The Indian name of these 
springs is poetical and appropriate. ' Chatawa via wa — Chatawa 
via na wa ' (Bright flowing river of silver silent waters). We have 
been living here, in Mr. Mann's open log-dwelling, with only him, 

Mrs. Mann, and their negroes, sharing pot-luck ; R and I 

sitting by the blazing pinewood fire ; little niggers at our feet ; 
black ' boys and girls ' of all ages coming in and out, and leaning 
and gossiping against the fire-place, whenever they ' minded.' 
Mr. Mann said, ' You see how it is ; how much harder I and my 
poor wife work than these people ; I would gladly give them all 
away for one good white servant ; their food and clothing cost me 
more than I should have to pay for wages ; and they are so waste- 
ful. All my children are married. My old woman and I could 
be much more comfortable if we were not hampered by fifteen 
negroes. I should not like to sell them, or make them leave ; it 
is a hard task we have ; but it would be such a distress and ruin 
to the poor things, if we rid ourselves of them.' 

Ocaltty February 24. — In the afternoon of the day before yes- 
terday, I returned to this place ; symptoms of a chalky country 
the whole way. Before sunrise the next morning I was out. 
Upon going down stairs I found no fastening to the external door 
of this house ; but a light chair was placed against it, which a 
child could have pushed aside. What an evidence of the security 
of property in this unguarded slave country, when locks and bolts 
are considered unnecessary. Before breakfast, I rambled two or 
three miles into a beautiful forest to the south-west, without the 



234- ' OLD dick's ' VIEW OF SLAVERY. 

smallest fear of meeting anything more alarming than two or 
three black pigs, which are allowed to wander at will after roots 
and acorns ; if rattlesnakes have finished their winter-nap, they 
are not uj) so early. Everything around was bright and tran- 
quil — magnolias, streaming epiphytes, and palmettos, looked so 
foreign, that when I came to what in Devonshire would be called 
a ' gully,' in this usually flat country, and saw a stump covered 
with one of the English feather mosses {Hypnum ;proliferum)^ I 
was quite surprised. In a clearing, upon my return towards this 
little town of seven years' existence, I met an old negro, sitting 
upon his bullock-cart. We had a long conversation : he asked 
about England, and seemed anxious to talk of the condition of his 
race, and their prospects in Liberia ; he was by far the most intel- 
ligent negro I ever met with. He told me he had worked for 
himself at odd times, and had accumulated enough to buy his 
own freedom ; he purposes doing this, and going to Liberia, he 
and his wife, with the view of guiding and improving his fellow 
blacks. He thinks the slaves unfit for freedom in the mass ; that 
only those who have been raised for a generation or two among 
the whites can be induced to work ; and that some few, who like 
himself have got improved habits, may go back to do good in 
Africa. Old Dick would not have stopped the slave trade : ' No, 

ma'am ; bring them away to make them better.' Mr. G , an 

excellent Episcopalian missionary and clergyman here, who was, 
educated in the North, is of the same opinion. No one can live 
long in this country without being convinced of the want of real 
information, and the injudicious tendency of Uncle Tom. He 
says such books, however popular and ingenious, are false in fact, 
and therefore bad in principle ; and I have already seen enough 
fully to concur in that conclusion. Untruth will never promote 
Christianity ; and those who sincerely desire to advance the cause 
of the negro should remain for some months in the Southern 
States of America ; not with the view of strengthening their own 
prejudices, but single-minded, and with a simple intention to seek, 
and to accept, such information as really may enable them to 
understand what will benefit their fellow-creatures. I spent yes- 



PANTHERS. 235 

terday in visiting every quarry and opening which might enable 
me to comprehend the geological features of this neighbourhood. 
Chalk and flint and greensand abound ; and I can hear of no other 
formations within any reasonable distance. I found strong evi- 
dence of the up-heaving by volcanic action — fossils plentiful ; but 
I found no gryphites, scaphites, or nautili. 

This morning, we return as far as the'Orange Springs, for I 
shall not again be inveigled into a fifteen hours' journey through 
the sand barrens. 

Palatka^ Fehruary 25. — Our stage did not leave Ocala be- 
fore eleven o'clock. It was delayed by the non-arrival of the 
mail from Tampa, a place a hundred miles to the south-west. A 
crow in this country makes a noise just like the bark of a dog. 
The deer, which are still frequently shot, are of small size ; their 
horns have never more than five or six points ; their weight from 
eighty to one hundred and sixty pounds. There are panthers 
measuring twelve feet from the nose to the tip of the tail, which 
occasionally carry off cows and oxen. A large one destroyed 
some pigs close to Palatka. Several gentlemen pursued the ani- 
mal. It took refuge in a large swampy hummock ; the hunters 
then sent their dogs to get the beast out, but of thirteen only 
eight ever appeared again, and it was concluded that the other 
five were killed by the panther. Unless alarmed, or wounded, 
they have never been known to attack a man. After a tedious 
journey, we reached Orange Springs by seven in the evening. I 
got a carriage very early, and went to breakfast with Mr. and 

Mrs. L , who ' are roughing it in the Bush.' They gave me 

excellent bread and butter, which was a treat after the hot rolls 
and buckwheat cakes most usually met with in America. I saw 
the sulphur springs and lakes, which may have once been volcanic 
sinks, and got back to Mr. Dickenson's boarding house in time 
for the departing stage. The weather proved wet, and our jour- 
ney back to Palatka dreary. 

Fehruary 26. — I saw a bone here last night seven feet long 
and three inches wide, wavy in form, and apparently recent. 
Some one suggested that it might have belonged to a sea-cow. It 



236 JACKSONVILLE. 

did not resemble the rib of a whale, though it might belong to the 
head of a large one. I sketched the form, not being able to guess 
what creature had ever owned it. As the Walatka steamer 
makes a trip of thirty-two miles up the North Creek, one of the 
branches of this ' river of lakes' (a translation of the Indian name 
of Walatka, the St. John), I took the Charleston boat as far as 
Jacksonville, and went on board that for Savannah at night. 
Jacksonville is, to my fancy, the prettiest town between Bruns- 
wick and Palatka. There is a large hotel ; and in consequence 
of a destructive fire last year, good brick houses and shops are 
rising up. In one of the sandy alleys at the back of the place, I 
found some lumps of porphyritic rock, much to my surprise, for I 
could not believe they belonged to this modern land. After 
some inquiry, I found they had been brought here as ballast. I 
went into a store, where I bought alligator's teeth, limes, and a 
nice little map of Florida. Professor Baird, of Washington, gave 
me a note of introduction to Dr. Baldwin ; but unfortunately the 
doctor was away from home, so I did not succeed in getting some bo- 
tanical information I hoped for. Mrs. Baldwin was very obliging : 
she gave me a fine specimen of coral from Key West. This name is 
a corruption of the Indian-Spanish words, ' Chicao hueso. Key of 
Bones.' We shall touch there in our way from Charleston to 
Cuba. After making a sketch at Jacksonville, I got on board the 
Walatka before sunset, and after a successful though cold voyage 
of two nights and one day, we reached Savannah by seven o'clock 

in the morning of February 28th. My friends, Miss T and 

Mr. and Mrs. H , received us very hospitably. Miss T — — 

took me a drive to call upon Dr. Turner, my fellow sufferer in 
the Seminole accident, who took such charge of me as far as 
Hopeton. I was delighted to visit his cottage, where I found 
him very busy gardening, and I learned a new and ingenious 
method of cultivating strawberries. He almost promises to meet 
me at Chittauoge, if I will make my way into Tennessee from New 

Orleans. I will try. Before seven o'clock Mr. H took me 

on board the Calhoun. The night w^as bright, but very cold, and 
an adverse wind and rough sea prevented the steamer from reach- 



UNUSUAL COLD. 



237 



ing Charleston before six o'clock next morning. Mr. and Mrs. 

H expected me to breakfast; and after three successive 

nights spent on board three steamers, without taking off my 
clothes, the prospect of three quiet days in their comfortable 
house was very consoling. My chalk fossils and pretty ferns ex- 
cite an interest among some of my friends here. Professor Gribbs 
spent some time in looking over these acquisitions, and Mrs. 

H promises to plant, and watch over all the living plants this 

next summer, and then she will forward them to meet me at 
Boston next September, when I hope my Ward's case will trans- 
port them safely to England. But the weather continues ex- 
tremely cold — I am assured quite unusually so for this part of 
the world : it is quite as bitter as our coldest March. I often 
think of the poor troops, for it seems this long severe winter 
has extended to Europe as well as America. It has been a great 
disappointment to find no letters here : not one line have I re- 
ceived from England of later date thaii,the 9th of January, and 
this is the 3rd of March ; but I trust mails are awaiting us at 
Cuba. We are a month later in going to that island than I ex- 
pected ; so I have little doubt but Mr. Crampton has forwarded 
letters there. Yesterday I spent some hours gardening with 

Mrs. H . I have endeavoured to reconcile the pretty fern 

from Scott's Springs near Ocala, to grow away from its chalky 
locality, by scraping lime off the wall ; but it is so fairy-like and 
fragile in appearance, I fear it is of a tender, fanciful nature ; 
and the sheltered arched cave and dripping stalactite of Florida 
is very unlike any home I can find for it. However, I have 
plenty of specimens in my press, and if the plants die I must be 
content with their lifeless forms. We embark to-morrow morn- 
ing in the Isabel for Cuba — another three days' voyage ; but 
there will be a fine moon, and at last I hope to leave winter be- 
hind me. There seems little hope of getting away from it until 
we reach a tropical climate. Every one here is shivering and 
complaining of such unusual cold — for, of course. Southern dwell- 
ings are ill prepared to combat it — and the poor trees and shrubs 
look unhappy under this northern treatment. I have sent boxes 



238 CHARLESTON. 

of seeds and plants to Dorsetshire ; of course, the weather is also 
unfavourable for their travels, and I fear it may render them of 
little value ; but still it is no use to keep seeds through another 
season. The mail goes to-day. I shall like to know when my 
packet reaches home. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 
Charleston^ March 3, 1855. 



LETTEK XX. 



On Board toe Isabel, 
Between Key West and Cuba, 

2rarch 7, 1S55. 



My dear Friends, — 

In spite of the rocking of this steamer, I can write this 
morning ; and I want to tell you some things, which may be 
shoved out of my memory by the excitement and novelty of Cu- 
ban scenes. The day before leaving Charleston, I spent some 
time at the Museum, where Mr. Holmes, the curator, thinks that 
my brown Florida flints, although they strike fire, are not analo- 
gous with the black flints in England. As I found no scaphites, 
or nautiluses, and no real • terebratulae, Mr. Holmes thinks my 
chalk is of the same date as the cretaceous formations of Carolina 
and Alabama. I have not seen them, so I "fcannot judge; but 
with the exception of whatever paleontological differences there 
may be (of which I am not learned enough to judge), Florida 
chalk and Dorset chalk are twin sisters: yet it requires exact 
knowledge to distinguish old red sandstone from the new red by 
the general appearance of either ; so I suppose there is some re- 
semblance between these chalky sisters, and that new chalk and old 
chalk are difficult to distinguish : but this matter must be settled by 
a wiser geologist than I pretend to be. I have heard of the genu- 
ine sea-serpent at last ! You know I always advocated the reality 
of such a reptile — partly founded upon its admission into the 
Scandinavian Mythology, in which every symbol was borrowed 
from Nature. Last spring, when Captain Peat, of the steamer 



240 THE GENUINE SEA SERPENT. 

William Seahrooh, was going up an island porti on of the Savan- 
nah River, he, as well as his crew and passengers, saw a gigantic 
serpent just before the vessel ; it quickly disappeared ; a notice of 
the circumstance was inserted in a local newspaper, and treated 
with the usual incredulity. Captain Rollins of this ship says, he, 
like the rest of the world, disbelieved the report ; but the next 
day, during the passage of this steamer to Savannah, on approach- 
ing the bar of St. Helens, he was called by his look-out man 
to see 'the biggest log that ever was.' On looking through 
his telescope, he clearly saw that the object in question was no 
tree, but a monster as long as the Isabel herself, in rapid motion ; 
as he watched it, it reared its snake-like body and head high out 
of the water as the funnel of the steamer, looked about for an 
instant, and then plunged down, leaving a swirling eddy where it 
had shown itself No reasonable person acquainted with the calm 
seaman-like character of Captain Rollins, will suspect him of 
either exaggeration or error in describing a fact ; but this, I be- 
lieve, is the first time that the sea-serpent has been supposed to 
be seen or heard of in southern latitudes : it is probably a denizen 
of the deep seas, which rarely and accidentally gets into shallower 
water ; and if it is an uncommon creature, I think the argument 
that no bone or skeleton has ever been found, cannot stand against 
such strong evidence as we have of its existence : there may be 
some weight or property in the skeleton which prevents any part 
of it from rising to the surface out of the sea caves where it 
usually lives and dies. 

I was fortunate in finding my old friend G-. P embarking 

in the Isabel at the same time as myself : his society and aid will 
make not only my voyage, but my residence in Cuba much more 
agreeable ; for as his physician has ordered him to counterbal- 
ance the effects of an unusually severe winter by a visit 
South, he, like myself, has no other objects but information and 
amusement ; so I hope to benefit by his assistance as well as his 
company. The voyage of three days and three nights from Char- 
leston was very pleasant ; we had calm weather, and a splendid 
moon ; and although upon running a few hundred miles between 



LIGHTHOUSE. 241 

the Grulf Stream and the coral reefs and islands south of Florida, 
there was sufficient motion to affect all the extremely sensitive of 
our party, neither E nor I were ill for a moment. 

Two small Government vessels, with surveyors, were occupied 
in raising beacons at intervals along the reefs. Upon one of them 
I saw an erection quite novel to me ; a residence and lighthouse, 
built upon an apparently transparent iron framework, about forty 
feet in height, so that the waves of the sea pass through the foun- 
dation instead cf undermining it ; a retired naval master lives 
with his family in charge of this useful, but alarmingly fragile- 
looking establishment. He has a small yacht, in which he or 
some of his household occasionally visit the mainland, and I be- 
lieve they reside in their airy dwelling without apprehension, 
although a few years ago, when every house on Key "West was in- 
undated during the most violent storm ever known, a lighthouse 
built upon the most southern point of the United States territory, 
on a very small island in the sea, was washed away with all its 
residents. 

The captain told me that when about a mile from the Florida 
coast, he sometimes could distinguish bears walking about on 
shore, and he pointed out a small island in the chain which ex- 
tends from the mainland down to Key West, which a few years 
ago was inhabited by a settler and his family. The Indians came 
forty miles in canoes, attacked the place, and murdered every in- 
dividual except the wife and daughters of the master, who crept 
in among some sand and lumber under a small wharf. After mak- 
ing themselves too drunk to look after these, the Indians left the 
island, so that a few days afterwards the women were rescued un- 
hurt. Now, the United States troops have enclosed the savages 
within a certain district, where they can do no injury, and event- 
ually they will be got off after the other tribes, westward. It 
was with regret that I found it beyond midnight before we 
reached Key West ; as the steamer only stayed half an hour, 
while she landed a few passengers and some goods, I could 
only go for a few minutes on shore ; and my first intro- 
duction to cocoa-nut trees was by moonlight. However, we 

n 



242 APPROACH TO THE HARBOUR. 

were lucky to have a moon. I picked up a few stones that I 
might see what the land was made of, and afterwards remained 
on deck till two o'clock, so as to see the fine revolving light of a 
house about nine miles out at sea. I was on deck as soon as the 
Cuban land could be distinguished, and we had a charming run 
down to the island — ^flying fish among the waves, and the elegant 
man-of-war birds sailing about over our heads. In general out- 
line, the island is straighter and less mountainous than I expected ; 
it did not look more elevated than the clifi"s of Brighton, in some 
places white and chalky in appearance. But nothing can be more 
picturesque than the Moro, and the entrance into a beautiful and 
extensive harbour. At a distance the hill upon which the Cabanos 
fortress stands has a resemblance to what is called the Look-out 
at Weymouth ; but, as you near it, it has a much more rugged 
appearance, and it is as if rent and cloven by volcanic action. A 
Moorish-looking battery, or wall, standing upon each fragment, it 
looks a very strong place. I must not sketch here without special 
permission from the Capitan-Generale. I never saw any harbour 
filled by a more interesting assemblage of ships. English men-of 
war (my heart jumped at the sight of that flag), a very fine Span- 
ish steamer, the Princeion^ a handsome American, and many of 
their schooners which are so specially airy and graceful. By-the- 
by, at Key West, I saw a Governmental United States schooner 
with three masts, which was to me a new kind of craft. A boat, 
containing a messenger from Madame Almy's boarding-house, took 
us on shore towards the bright, gay, Spanish-looking town. We 
were detained for half an hour in a cool, clean building, with iron 
railings on one side, through which peeped Spanish and negro 
and mulatto eyes, eager to seek employment in carrying baggage 

for strangers. Mr. P and I walked up to the hotel. From 

the descriptions I have read of Spain and Italy, I should suppose 
its appearance and our reception such as I should expect at Se- 
ville or Cordova. A fine English-looking coach, with gaudy hani- 
mercloth, had its domicile on the ground-floor. It belongs to the 
mistress of the mansion, who occupies it during her evening drive 
on the Pasco. She speaks English, being Anglo-American born, 



THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 243 

and Cuban by marriage. Ladylike in manner and deportment, she 
takes her post in the society of her house, and manages the concern 
with the assistance of a housekeeper. The rooms are comfortable, 
and the table is well served. The interior laid out in open galleries, 
and high rooms with painted cornices and ceilings, have the look 
and arrangement (I imagine) of an old Spanish palace. In the even- 
ing, Mr. P took me a drive in a volante round the town and its 

environs. After all I had heard of the peculiarities of the habits, 
dress, and social customs of the Cubans, still I was surprised; for 
it appears to me that Havana is more Spanish, more Moorish, 
more unlike Europe, and resembling more what I fancy Spain 
might have been in the time of Charles Y. than • anything my 
imagination conceived. The wheels of the volantes were hio;her 
and more eccentric. The negro drivers, in their costume and 
jack-boots, surpassed the old French postilions. The ladies, in 
full-dress evening gowns, decoUetces, short-sleeved, and coifees, 
as if for a London evening party. The houses flat-roofed, many- 
coloured, and Moorish-looking ; the trees generally new to me, 
and the flowers strange; the horses, with their plaited tails tucked 
up on one side, stiff and inelegant ; negro soldiers in straw hats, 
and mulatto women in gay turbans ; all this, added to unknown 
tongues, and a splendid southern sky, mystified me, and made me 
feel dreamy, as I had never felt before ; and yet I have looked at 
some accounts of Cuba, and read Gi(ha as It Is. I wonder 
whether anybody ever did acquire clear ideas of distant countrieb* 
and strange manners by reading, or by hearing of them. 

There are many more African-looking negroes here than in 
the Southern States of America. Perhaps the Anti-SIavv ry 
movement, although mistaken in its objects, may have providen- 
tially intended to raise and educate an improved negro race with- 
out fresh importation, for the purpose of ultimately civilizing and 
Christianizing Africa. I don't think that negroes from Cuba 
would be likely to regenerate or improve their race. I believe, 
on good authority, that the free blacks here are profligate and ir- 
religious ; and they look far less happy than their brethren in 
servitude. 



244 MRS. crauford's reception. 

February f 29. — I spent the greater part of the morning bar- 
gaining for some articles of attire. Shopping here is conducted 
quite after a Turkish fashion ; you are expected to bargain, and 
consider, and discuss for an hour, before you conclude a purchase. 
Ladies seldom go into a shop ; the best part of its contents are 
brought to their residences, or displayed in the volantes in which 
they drive to the shop-door ; and three times the price intended 
to be taken is often asked in the first place ; then the buyer offers 
three times less than she intends to give, and at last, after many 
objections and remonstrances on both sides, the bargain is struck 
— a sad waste of time and profanation of truth ; but it is useless 

to rebel against Spanish custom. Before breakfast, G. P 

took me out walking by the harbour to th-e market, where the 
brilliant-coloured fish and the strange-looking fruits were very in- 
teresting. I was surprised to see great pholases (one of the 
boring shell-fish) as an article of food, and numerous other bi- 
valves which did not look tempting. We afterwards visited the 
garden in front of the Capitau-Gener ale's palace. There were 
fine palm trees, which at first I mistook for dates. I am quite 
puzzled by the trees here, as they are so strange ; for, though wo 
may be well acquainted with tropical Cowers in our hot-houses, 
the larger products are of course less known to us ; and as yet I 
have found no one here who can give me botanical information. 
The Spaniards are accused of eradicating trees as much as possi- 
ble ; and certainly I do not see anything like groves around 
Havana — only avenues, and occasional rows of palms. Mrs. 
Crauford, the Consul's ladj^, will have a pic-nic to-morrow in the 
most shady garden known here, because it is a deserted residence. 

March 10. — Last night I went to Mrs. Crauford's reception, 
in one of the most beautiful houses I have yet seen here. It was 
built by a wealthy gentleman, and as he is for the present resid- 
ing with his wife at Paris, he has let his house to the British Con- 
sul. The entrance (like that of the most of the palaces here) 
is a high, Moorish-looking hall, with a porte cochere ; from this 
springs a fine, geometrically-built stone staircaise, leading first to 
a music-gallery ; besides other rooms, a splendid drawing-room 



A SPANISH DOG. 



21$ 



and anteroom, the one with an ornamental marble floor, the other 
en parquet^ of a pattern elaborately worked in various woods ; 
Pompeian ceilings ; a beautifully ornamented dressing-room, and 
a bedroom beyond — 7'echerchees, and in good taste. I was intro- 
duced to all our naval officers, as well as to the Americans in 
harbour. I drove there and back in a volante alfresco ; although 
in an evening dress, it was perfectly warm and pleasant. The 
interior of the houses, with their spacious windows, entrances 
open to view and well lighted, looked gay and cheerful, as we 
went — returning at half-past ten, I was not quite without appre- 
hension, as I was told robberies were frequent at that hour ; how- 
ever, we safely arrived at our hotel in the street of the Inquisi- 
tor. In my room everything which passes out of doors can be 
distinguished, and the noise and chattering is unceasing. Last 
night I was amused to hear an English sailor trying to compre- 
hend a Spanish companion; it seemed evident the latter had 
given Jack Tar a dog, but Jack was complaining it did not un- 
derstand English. The Spaniard said something in reply, and 
then Jack rolled down the street vociferating ' Venga Cane — 
venga Cane ! ' In the morning, I heard an American gentleman 
declaring that something he was asked to do would be ' as much 
trouble as taking charge of a lady.' I rose early, and while sit- 
ting writing near the large open window of my room, in the high- 
est of these low houses (it has a stone balcony, with a strong iron 
grating upon the external edge, closed at the top, so that nothicg 
can ever fall out), I suddenly saw a tall broom, like those used by 
housemaids for lofty halls in England, swaying about within my 
grating ; in a moment it swept off a little flower-pot, and dashed 
it to atoms in the street below. I rushed to see the cause of 
this invasion, and there stood a tall soldier, looking first at the 
fragments and then at me, with an expression of grief on his 
countenance that was undoubted ; so I looked as benignant as I 
could, but this flower-pot contained a very rare, if not new fern, 
I had discovered near Ocala ; and all the way from Florida, I 
have brought it on my lap, with some pains and trouble, in hopes 
of taking it, growing, across the Atlantic ; but it would probably 



246 PIC-NIC. 

have perished, sooner or later, and perhaps sudden death was 
better than a lingering one. This exterior dusting must be ne- 
cessary here, where almost all the windows and balconies are cov- 
ed by iron gratings : they give rather a prison-like look to the 
houses, but as the windows and entrances are each from twenty 
to thirty feet high, extending from the roofs to the ground, or 
within three feet of it, having only lattices within, and no glass, 
so much light is admitted that there is no gloom. Any of the 
houses in this town might be used as a fortress, they are so strong 
and massive. 

We had a very pleasant pic-nic party yesterday, given by Mrs. 
Crauford, in what is called by custom the Bishop's Garden— or 
* Quinta del Obispo ' — but it belongs to the Conde de Penalver ; he 
having built a residence in Havana, does not make use of his pretty 
villa. The house is a ruin, and the garden neglected ; but this 
last circumstance makes it more interesting in a botanical point 
of view, as plants are to be found there which, under ordinary 
circumstances, would have been destroyed ; I found many trea- 
sures, some of them valuable seeds. Immediately after my re- 
turn home, Mr. Crauford came to take me to the Capitan-Gene- 
rale's. His palace is eastern-looking, like all the edifices here. 
Upon going into the reception-room, I saw about twelve chairs on 
each side opposite one another across the room, a space of three 
or four yards between — one row for gentleman visitors, and the 
other for ladies. Madame de Concha soon came in alone, dressed 
simply in morning costume ; after a little, the Capitan-Generale 
followed, and I was glad of his arrival, as I could not speak 
Spanish, nor Madame French, so the Consul was obliged to act 
as interpreter between us. The Capitan-Generale is a quiet- 
mannered, gentlemanly person ; he sat down by me, and we con- 
versed for some time in French, he obligingly promising the ne- 
cessary permits for travelling here and sketching — saying ' Nous 
ne sommes pas des tyrans ici ! ' He assured me of his anxiety 
for the success of England in the present war, biit expressed 
doubts of the result ; and he imagines the struggle will be a long 
one. The Spaniards do not believe the English understand fight- 



THE COOLIES. 247 

ing, which is odd enough when the battles of the Spanish cam- 
paigns of Napoleon must be fresh in their recollection. While 
the Capitan-Generale was talking with me, several gentlemen en- 
tered and I laced themselves on the chairs opposite, after mutual 
bows ; and when I thought our visit long enough, I made my 
courtesy, and we departed. Mens, and Madame de Concha were, 
for a short time, in England — I believe as exiles. Madame is 
sister to the Duquesa de la Vittoria. When I came back to the 
Hotel, Governor and Mrs. Fish came to see me ; they have just 
returned from an expedition into the interior. I am afraid I 
shall not have completed my little tour here in time to embark 
with them in the next passage of the Black Y/arrior^ for New 
Orleans. While I am writing, I see two mulatto women with 
cups in their hands, standing at the great, wide, coach-house look- 
ing door opposite ; they are sharing their breakfast with a negro ; 
and now two or three more come to gossip with them. This is 
the way all of black race like to eat ; they never willingly sit down 
to a regular meal — they prefer carrying their food about, and 
taking it at irregular hours. Nothing eatable is safe from their 
depredations, and this not from hunger, for they are always 
plentifully fed, but from their monkey-like habits. Mrs. Almy 
tells me no one unaccustomed can judge of the annoyance it is 
to be served by negroes, and that she shall bless the day when 
she is enabled to return, perhaps to England, where she will no 
longer be tormented by slave labour. I believe this to be the 
general feeling of masters and mistresses in the southern coun- 
tries. For their sakes, I wish I could have hopes that rice, cot- 
ton, and sugar may, some of these days, be generally cultivated 
by free labour ! I firmly believe the boon will be greater to the 
whites than to the blacks themselves ; but I fear blacks alone (in 
the long run) can endure work under a tropical sun. 

The Coolies are a miserable race ; they perform less work, but 
are the slaves of slaves — it remains to be seen whether they can 
long endure. I do not think people in England have any idea of 
the idleness which characterizes the black people. Unless forced to 
exertion they will lounge about for hours, aimless and unoccupied 



248 VOLANTES. 

yet they rise with the sun. For three hours this morning, since 
I got up, these women have been lolloping and gossiping in my 
sight, and there they will be until they find the heat too great 
for this kind of enjoyment. Whether they have masters or mis- 
tresses I cannot tell ; but the house is large, and apparently well 
furnished ; and yet these people are idling there from morning till 
night, unless the sun drives them in occasionally. One hardly 
ever sees a bonnet worn here, and I am beginning to do without, 
by means of a cap and a black veil — to avoid being stared at. The 
first day I thought the omission impossible, but general custom 
soon reconciles one ; and yesterday I went in an open volante, a 
league into the country, in such a dress as in England I should 
only wear in the evening, with a black veil added. 

The volantes are a singular choice for the prevailing vehicles 
in such narrow streets. They are so long and so wide that it is 
impossible to turn ; so one set go down one street and up the 
the next. Of course if a horse falls, the two wheels only are very 
awkward, but they say the poor beast generally lies still, and you 
have time to escape. Sometimes one carriage or cart stops the 
way, and there you must sit in patience as long as it may please 
these inert people to dawdle ; although the least energy would 
make way, they never think it worth while to be in a hurry. 

3£aianzas, March 14. — At last I am really sensible of being 
in a tropical climate ! I have slept in a room with an open win- 
dow (as large as our house doors), on a thin sacking couch with- 
out mattrass, pillows as hard as bricks, only a thin muslin cover- 
let, protected by a mosquito-net ; and after sleeping soundly from 
nine o'clock till three, I am writing by candle-light, stars shining 
outside ; the moon will be in abeyance till we cross the sea to 
New Orleans, having fully done her duty during our last voyage. 
Last night I remained from sunset upon a kind of piazza at the 
top of this house, to watch for the ' Southern Cross.' I saw it 
rise rather to the east of south ; it then seemed to leave gradually 
westward, before it sank in the horizon, about in a line with 
Orion, which was gloriously bright almost over our heads. The 
Great Bear appears to me topsy-turvy, and becomes quite a sec- 



MATANZAS. 249 

ondarj constellation here, and the Cross is only dimly seen, 
because we are not far enough within the Tropics to catch more 
than a glimpse of it. The two upper stars look fine : the two 
side ones more distant from each other than I expected; the low- 
est faint, and not quite in a straight line with the upper ones. 
The British Consul, Mr. Da Costa, was very polite in coming 
immediately; and he remained and aided me to discover the 
Cross. The master is a Spaniard of the old country, who speaks 
French readily and a little English, besides Spanish. Upon our 
first arrival there was a long parler carried on in several lan- 
guages by the party from Havana, which consisted of E- and 

me, three American gentlemen, all old acquaintances of mine, one 
Englishman who crossed with us in the Isabel^ and who was in- 
troduced to me by Mr. Molyneux, at Savannah, a Cuban, and a 
Spaniard. It was difficult to apportion the sleeping-rooms open- 
ing out upon an interior but external gallery, so that no one 
might interfere with another, and the poor signor was almost in 
a fever before that arrangement was complete. My little nest 
has a fine view to the west. I bribed an ancient black with one 

eye to wipe the floors for me, and for R , next room, with 

fresh water, which cooled them considerably; and we are now 
well lodged, without a creeping thing of any kind among us. 

This is a very pretty town ; the sea runs into a deep bay, 
filled by ships of many nations, come to be laden with sugar ; it 
is a cleaner place than Havana, and the blacks and mulattos less 
numerous. I did not leave the house last evening, but occupied 
myself in making a sketch of the bay from hence. We left Ha- 
vana by the six o'clock train the day before yesterday ; reached 
Guines by nine ; went to see a cave in a chalky hill three miles 
from the village — a fatiguing and difficult expedition, but I found 
numerous flowers known in our gardens and hot-houses ; among 
them the pretty Asclepias tuberosa, Ipomoeas of all colours and 
sizes, a lilac, a scilla, a soiamena, and other things new to me, and 
the whole country was dotted over by cocoa-nut trees. That 
neighbourhood has little other foliage, although during our jour- 
ney by rail I saw fine mango and other trees — among them a 
11* 



250 MATANZAS. 

palmetto as tall as the Chamaerops of Florida ; it looks something 
like the same species. We passed many haciendas, the planta- 
tions belonging to which were in higli cultivation, great herds of 
cattle and many horses feeding about them ; and there were tall 
chimneys indicating steam-engines for crushing sugar. 

On Sunday last, we went to the service on board the Vestal, 
commanded by Captain Thompson, then moored in the harbour 
of Havana ; the Buzzard steamer left a day or two before, and 
the Argus will remain, while the Vestal is expected at this place. 
It is curious to hear the watchmen belonging to the towns in Cuba. 
They sing out the hours and the state of the weather in a stento- 
rian tone, always preceding their announcement by a shrill and 
prolonged whistle. I observe that their voices are tuned nearly 
to the same intervals, though of course one is rather more musi- 
cal than another. A thick fog obscures the view this morning — 
it was the same yesterday ; it indicates that the day will be a hot 
one. Yesterday the thermometer stood at 86°, unusually high for 
this month, but I do not find the heat so oppressive as when at 
80° in England. 

Matanzas is situated in an almost circular basin, formed by 
low hills of a nearly even height, except when broken by a chasm 
through which flows the River Yamorri — to the north-west. The 
houses, like those of Havana, are almost all low, having usually 
not more than one, or at most two storeys, some of them with 
flat roofs, and others heavily tiled by circular shaped tiles, as if 
rows of chimney-pots were strung together, and laid half a foot 
apart. In a garden just below my window I see a magnificent 
Oleander, and a fine yellow Bignonia (starts ?), in full bloom. I 
heard an amusing anecdote with reference to botanical ignorance ; 
as a lady had heard the name of Hedysarum gyrans, next day she 
grav^ely informed a gentleman, 'that plant is the harum scarum 
gatherum.' So little attention is paid to natural history here, 
that I can get no assistance as to the botanical names of either 
trees, flowers, or shrubs, and as many of the former are yet without 
bloom, it is difl&cult to make them out even with the assistance 
of Loudon; it is the same with out-of-the-way fruits — one is a 



COCOA-NUTS. 253 

poLppy and another is a mammy ^ and so on ; but the local terms 
do not help one the least. 

Mr. Da Costa, the Consul, was so obliging as to take us an 
interesting drive last evening up heights to the north-east, from 
whence I was able to sketch the Pau of Matanza, and a fine valley 
beneath, dotted in all directions with cocoa-nut trees, but I ob- 
served few trees of any other kind. By a road impracticable for 
any other vehicle than a volante, with its giant wheels, we reached 
a villa and plantation belonging to one of the proprietors here. 
The foliage all round appeared so strange ; Tree Euphorbias, 
Shrubby Cactus, immense Cannas, and thickets of Coffee, Bana- 
nas, &c. For the first time I saw cocoa-nuts ; some were gathered, 
and I drank some of the juice which looked like clear water, and 
tasted nearly the same, with a slight soiipcon of sugar. I was quite 
surprised to see a green nut (placed with a hole in it over a tum- 
bler) pouring forth such a bright, innocent-looking liquid. I 
supposed it would always have a milky hue. The nuts enlarge 
by degrees; but it was a long time before I could find out which 
of the palms was the true cocoa-nut tree. Some said this was, and 
others doubted, and said it was a tree resemblsng the one that 
produces the nut, whereas, there is only that single cocoa that I 
have yet seen here. There are tall Arecas and Palmettos, which 
are probably the same as those of Florida ; and there is the Date 
(Phosnix), and the Sago Palm, and Bactris, but two kinds of 
cocoas I have not yet seen here. At this plantation of Mr. Jinks's 
I for the first time saw sugar crushing. It was, in this instance, 
not done by steam, but by horses and mules, negro boys sitting 
as postilions, laughing and shouting, and the whole affair having 
such a wild, unearthly look, though it seemed a case of enjoyment 
to all except the poor beasts concerned in this kind of merry-go- 
round, that I could fancy the employment might have been se- 
lected by Dante for one of the punishments of his Inferno. The 
driver, who received us and showed us every hospitality, was a 
handsome, good-humoured, intelligent-looking Cuban Creole. At 
Guines, where I saw a large plantation, all the sugar was distilling 
for rum, a spirit which bears a high price at this moment, and is 



252 YAMORRI. 

therefore more profitable than sugar. Coolies were employed 
there as well as negroes, but they do not seem equally fitted for 
labour, and are more to be pitied than the negro slaves, for their 
masters are indifierent about their comfort. The sun set as a 
more magnificent globe of fire than I had ever before seen it. 
There was just enough twilight when we left the plantation for 
me to watch that we went safely down a long and steep white 
chalky descent into the valley below ; and I regretted that after- 
wards I could see nothing of the beauties of our drive, excepting 
fire-flies, which sparkled among the aloes, and yuccas, and coffee 
bushes, as we proceeded along a track, which, if the Consul and 
the other gentleman on horseback had not assured me was free 
from danger, I should have thought could hardly have been safely 
traversed ; but with the exception of every now and then sinking 
in ruts, and passing over rocks, large enough to have overset an 
English vehicle, we had no difficulties, and the negro postilion 
and his two little white horses, appeared quite at their ease. We 
passed by two haciendas, in our road to the pass through the 
Yamorri River makes its way to the town, and into the sea beyond. 
The name ' Yamorri ' is by tradition derived from the dying ex- 
clamation of a native warrior who fell into the stream. It does 
not seem very deep. Another river flows along the opposite side 
of this place, and there is also the Cardinas a short distance down 
the coast to the south, but I believe none of them are navigable. 
I have lost time here in looking about, owing to the early morn- 
ings having been thick and foggy ever since we came, an unusual 
circumstance. It is too hot to stir in the middle of the day, and 
the evenings are very short, so that I shall accomplish less here 
in four days than I should do in two elsewhere. 

Maianzas^ Ma7'ch 16. — I saw some nice plants in small gar- 
dens yesterday. The Copaiba is a very pretty tree, and I hope 
to get a bulb of a gigantic lily, some Crinum or Amaryllis, which 
they tell me has a purple and white flower. A Ceanothus-looking 
shrub has here the name of tree mignonette from its fragrance. 
I went in a volante to draw from the Yamorri Pass. There are 
caves in the cretaceous rocks above, one of which is so extensive 



ARRANGEMENTS. 253 

that it is believed to pass under the whole of the town of Ma- 
tanzas. Looking up from below, I saw some stalactitic pillars 
supporting rocks above. I sketched one of them. In some 
places here the rocks look as if they had all been submitted to 
the action of fire, and this more completely than in Florida ; for 
in these I see no organic remains. I think they must all have 
been burnt up, while at Ocala they seem only to have been warmed 
up. I suppose Cuba to be older land than the most southern 
part of the United States, although from Havana to Matanzas, I 
see only cretaceous formations — ^but coal is found not very distant 
from Havana, and the hundreds of miles farther south allow space 
enough for anything. This morning I am going to a plantation 
a few miles down the coast, south ; to-morrow we return to Havana, 
and I shall have one more week there before crossing over to New 
Orleans. 

Your affectionate 

A. M. M. 







LETTEK XXL 



Matanzas. Cuba, ) 

3farch 17, 1855. j 



MiT BEAR Friends, — 

I hope the letter which I sent off yesterday will leave Ha- 
vana by this day's mail ; it is impossible to be certain that all I 
write reaches you, but I generally send packets by the best oppor- 
tunities. I have not always time to read over my communica- 
tions, and never to copy them, so I shall be sorry if any are lost, 
as they will be such a refreshment to my memory at home. After 
closing my letters yesterday morning, I set off in a volante very 
early, and had a beautiful drive by the sea shore to a plantation 

called , the residence of Monsieur . The finest view I 

have yet seen of Matanzas is from a point about a mile out of the 

town, along the southern coast. Mr. J was so obliging as to 

accompany me part of the way on horseback ; and as I soon got 
out of the carriage to gather flowers and pick up shells, I was 
quickly attracted by the nature of the rocks, which here border a 
sandy beach : there were fossil corals, and organisms in great va- 
riety, close to the sea. On a hill beyond, I found innumerable 
shells ; bullas nearly as perfect as the recent ones on the shore 
below ; then evident marks of volcanic action ; then chalk resem- 
bling that at Ocala, with occasional fossil remains ; higher up still, 
but not distant more than a few hundred yards, I saw a coarse 
kind of white freestone, which negro workmen were quarrying out 



MONSIEUR 's PLANTATION. 255 

in large blocks for building materials ; tlien the road became ex- 
actly like the bed of a former river, although still rising a hill ; 
it was little else but boulders and water-worn stones, which in 
England would have been considered impracticable for a carriage; 
but neither the calecero, his little thin white horses, nor the vo- 
lante, made any objection to jumbling over them ; the high, strong 
wheels mounted up and leaped down, without damage; and I 
could only hold tight, and wonder how horses and vehicle kept 
together. Before we reached the plantation, the soil was a rich 

iron-sand, just like that at Abbotsbury. M. told me that 

this soil had produced twenty crops of sugar-cane in succession 
without artificial aid. As usual, I met with a kind and hospitable 
reception ; a broad avenue of Palms and Orange trees led up to 
the house ; a black nurse was in a verandah, with the one little 

boy of two 3'ears, and Madame immediately came out and 

took me into a comfortable drawing-room, opening at once from 
the front. The verandah was nearly covered by the eatable pas- 
sion-flower (Passijlora grandilla), and M. , who was for some 

time in England, must have had English gardens and groves in 
his mind, while planting the trees of his own country, instead of 
imitating the Spanish fashion of underrating them. The refresh- 
ing verdure of our lawns is beyond attainment within the Tropics, 
but he has selected trees and shrubs having reference to ornament 
as well as use; with oranges and pomeganates, and fruits, the 
names of which I have still to learn, he has associated a loquat, 
Mesjpilus (or Eisohoiria Japo7iica), with the elegant foliage of 
the palm and bamboo, and the prett}^ weeping fir (which I never 
saw before, but suppose to be a Cryptomeria), making the middle 
distance unusual in appearance, and I tried, rather unsuccessfully, 

to sketch it. M. ordered a volante, and took me to a forest 

about a mile from his house, where I saw all kinds of novelties — 
among them a Heliotrope smelling like Jasmine, and a prickly 
shrub with a holly-shaped leaf, and flower resembling a Dryandra, 
only I never heard of one of that family, except as Australians. 
To avoid being knocked down by a largo herd of horses and oxen, 
who were eagerly galloping down to the lliver Coheinva, a fine 



256 SYMPATHY WITH THE CUBANS. 

stream, wlien we readied it, M. placed me upon a bank, 

where the wild scene below could be witnessed without inconven- 
ience. All the animals plunging and swimming about, while ne- 
gro boys, looking just like bronze statues, leaped now on a horse, 
sometimes from a horse to an ox, and then into the water ; or 
diving down, they made their appearance unexpectedly in the 
very midst of the beasts. I was not inclined to descend from my 
elevation till the whole assemblage, having drunk and bathed to 
their satisfaction, galloped off. 

This river is wide and deep enough to float a seventy-four, 
and, as there is very little bar at the mouth, under any other 
kind of government it would be made navigable. It is impossible 
to visit Cuba without being struck by the fact that its resources 
are undeveloped, and its improvement prevented by mismanage- 
ment. My sympathy cannot but go with the Cubans, who ai'e 
anxious for some improvement, although some political prisoners 
are likely to be put out of the way by strangulation for evincing 
an impatient spirit under the iron despotism by which they are 
ruled. My compassionate feelings are roused, so with every in- 
clination for the support of authority, I cannot but wish that 
Europe may aid, instead of opposing, the ultimate freedom of 
this fine island — fine, at least, as to natural productions, but in 
great part rendered unproductive by the tyranny and ignorance 
of man. I observe many indications of Spanish cruelty, particu- 
larly towards animals. Slaves are pretty well treated, because 
their well-being is a matter of dollars in the pockets of their 
masters ; but one sees chickens tied up alive by their legs in the 
markets, and one hears of bull-fights and cock-fights attended 
even by women. These things exemplify the character of a peo- 
ple, and show how backward their civilization is. I spent the 
day with my pleasant hosts, and M. was so good as to ac- 
company me back to Matanzas after dark, although he thus ex- 
posed himself to a double night journey over the rocky track, 
which I can hardly call a road : however, we jumbled safely back, 

and I went immediately to Mr. Russel J , as Mrs. J had 

been anxious about my safe return. Mr. J promises to for- 



RETURN TO HAVANA. 257 

ward my collection of this day at once to England, for it alone 
will fill a box, with shells, fossils, plants, and seeds. I found 
some difficulty in tearing myself away from such an interesting 
locality, where I have not seen half I should like to see. Not 
very far from the pass of the Yamorri, I understand there is still 
an Indian sacrificial altar. None of the aboriginal race are now 
left on the island : they have faded away before the more intelli- 
gent white men, and perhaps it may be, in the course of Provi- 
dence, that Anglo-Saxon energy is one of these days to supersede 
Creole inertness and Spanish cruelty. 

March 17. — I went by railroad back to Havana, and this time 
I tried to settle the controversy which has been waging in my 
mind between the two palms most common here. It is evident 
that the real cocoa-nut has a less smooth bark and a more plu- 
mose, falling foliage than that tree with the smooth white stem 
and stifi'er leaves, most common all about the country ; the latter 
bears a smaller nut, with which pigs are fed, instead of the true 
cocoa-nut ; and a gentleman I met last night says the former is 
called here the Royal Palm, and that it is not a cocoa at all. I 
shall find out its botanical designation at last. I suspect it is 
what I first supposed, an Areca (Betel-nut). 

There is much of the red iron-sand all the way to Havana. 
We arrived in time for dinner, but in such a ferruginous state 
that it required considerable patience to wash ourselves clean. 
Before sunset I took advantage of the pass I have received for 

drawing, and Mr. P took me up to the Fort El Principe, from 

which there is a view over Havana. Upon showing the order, 
signed by the Capitan-Generale, and assuring the Commandant 
that I only wished to sketch * la perspectiva^^ and not the fortifi- 
cations, we were permitted to enter. 

Sunday^ March 18. — "We went to the service on board the 
Argus steamer, commanded by Captain Purvis. The English 
and Austrian Consuls, with Mrs. Crauford and Mrs. Scharken- 
berg, Mr. and Mrs. Backhouse, &c. &c., were also on board; and 
the captain provided us with a plentiful lunch. The sailors sang 
the Hundredth Psalm ; and they also chanted part of the service 



258 ABOLITIONIST NOTIONS. 

guided by an harmonicon. We visited the eiigme-room and ma- 
chinery, store-closetj &c. &c., which were beautifully kept. The 
Vestal is gone upon a cruise. I have been told a dreadful fact, 
confirmatory of the blood and murder which are caused by our 
unfortunate perseverance in keeping an Anti-Slavery squadron 
on the coast of Africa. One of our captains having been cap- 
sized in his gig, within the bar of a river, his only hope of safety 
was to swim to shore, near a barracouta, where he expected to 
lose his life in another manner. The people belonging to it, 
however, succoured him, and received him with kindness ; but, 
before returning to his ship, the slave merchant requested his 
company to a distant building. Upon opening the door he was 
struck with horror at the sight of five hundred blacks with their 
throats cut. ' Do not look reproachfully at m^,' exclaimed the 
man ; ' this is your doing, not mine. I would willingly have 
avoided such a massacre, but you prevented me from getting the 
slaves ofi: I could neither feed nor provide for them ; and self- 
preservation obliged us to dispose of them as you see.' The 
Consul here, and Mr. Backhouse, son of Mr. Backhouse, formerly 
of the Foreign Office, are the only people I have met with among 
either diplomatists or clergy, who support Abolitionist notions. 
Mr. Backhouse informed me tliat the reason it is unnecessary to 
fasten doors and windows on the plantations is, that the negroes 
are all safely locked in their respective dwellings at night. Now, 
I have ascertained that this is not so, though of course Mr. 
Backhouse believed it ; and moreover, it would be absurd ; be- 
cause any one who is acquainted with the nature of negro houses 
must be aware they are so slight that the inhabitants can get out 
anywhere; and that, therefore, it would be useless to make a show 
of locking doors. In the cities the laws do not permit slaves to 
be out after nine o'clock at night without a permit ; but even this 
regulation is not always enforced. In the evening I went to the 
Cortuna Yaldez, a shady walk by the side of the harbour, and 
took a sketch from thence. 

Havana, 3Iarch 20. — Yesterday the heat was so intense I did 
not go out till late. This morning Mr. P accompanied me 



THE CABANOS. 259 

in tlie barge of the Argos, to visit the Cabanos, a very strong 
fortress, behind the Moro. It was once taken by Lord Albemarle, 
and England had possession of Havana for two years. At that 
time the English soldiers made use of one of the churches for 
Protestant service, which so desecrated it in the eyes of the bigoted 
Spaniards, that it has never been applied to sacred purposes from 
that time to this. In mounting towards the fortress, I found 
many interesting plants — some of them new to me. One of the 
pretty blue Commelinas usual in our gardens is here indigenous ; 
Ipomoeas, and Melias, and Bignonias, intermixed with Cactuses, 
are all over the banks, and fruits of difterent kinds grow within 
the walls. The Governor (who must, I suppose, be a Spanish 
General) was very gentlemanly and polite ; much more so than 
th& Commandant of El Principe, who consented to our admis- 
sion with reluctance, I imagined, as if some degree of suspicion 
crossed his mind : and one cannot wonder that in these filibustering 
times everything here is carefully guarded. This fortress (the 
Cabanos) is of immense extent, much larger than the Citadel of 
Quatre ; and at present it is occupied by a large body of troops. 
It took us so long to go over it that I put off visiting the Moro till 
to-morrow. 

After dinner Mr. P took me a drive round the suburbs of 

Havana; two other American gentlemen, acquaintances from 
Baltimore, accompanied us in another volante ; these carriages 
had two horses each, one ridden by a black postilion (with his tall 
jack-boots, and embroidered swallow-tailed, short- waisted jacket), 
cantered in the old French fashion by the side, but a few paces 
before the horse in the shafts. Our boy was a true negro of the 
ourang-outang class, with a projecting muzzle and falling-away 

chin ; he was so surly and obstinate, that at last Mr. P got 

out and borrowed a cane from the other vehicle. We observed 
intelligent glances passing between the two drivers, and ours im- 
mediately improved in civility ; the hint was sufficient, but no 
verbal argument would have had the smallest effect. We passed 
by the fortress called the Altares, on the hill below which fifty 
Filibusterers, who were taken prisoners from boats in an attempted 



260 TURPITUDE OF THE BLACKS. 

invasion of tiie Island two or three years ago, were shot. The 
execution of ten out of the number would have been less cruel, and 
probably better policy ; but is impossible to deny the right of the 
Cuban government to execute foreigners landing on their territory 
for hostile purposes; at this moment there are political prisoners 
under condemnation, whose death may be justifiable, Estampes, 
&c. 

We returned to the city by a ferry across the harbour, and in 
the evening I attended a reception at the palace. The Capitan- 
Generale does not appear to be more than forty-five ; his manner 
has a tinge of melancholy, and his position, however distinguished , 
must be in many respects arduous and painful. How far he is 
obliged to act harshly it is difficult to judge. He introduced me 
to General, or rather Admiral Castanos, who commands in the 
port, and who speaks English with a good pronunciation, although 
he informed me it was chiefly acquired from books. 

After my return home, the American commander of the 
Princeton steamer came in. He mentioned having lately visited 
Jamaica, after an interval of ten years since he was there before, 
and that he was both surprised and shocked at the rapid deterio- 
ration of the island. He says the blacks are fast sinking into a 
state of gross vice and immorality ; and even when they agree to 
work upon the plantations, they steal half of the crops to be 
gathered in, and sell it in the most barefaced way. Ladies cannot 
venture out without danger of insult ; and he considers our West 
Indian Islands are on the road to ultimate ruin. This is the 
opinion of every observer I have met with lately who has been 
among them — ^people of different professions and of various shades 
of politics — ^but all in agreement upon that one point, and a sad 
and dreary agreement it is ! 

Yesterday, the boat of the Argus, commanded by Mr. Elton, 

took Mr. P and me to the Moro. Upon landing beneath it, 

I found the beach strewed with various specimens of corallines, 
some of them so perfect they look as if fresh. The situation of 
this fortress is fine, though commanded by that we visited yester- 
day. I saw the windows of dungeons, where it gave me a pang 



POPULAR SPORTS. 261 

to know political prisoners are confined ; and there is a general 
opinion that an execution will take place to-morrow, perhaps that 
of Pinto. People well informed believe there is no credible evi- 
dence against Ramon Pinto ; but he is a man of talent as well as 
character, and the Castilian party are exasperated against him, 
so that there is reason to believe the Capitan-Generale will not 
refuse a confirmation of the sentence of death ; but with three of 
our men-of-war here, besides Americans, and considering the pro- 
tection we have afforded to the government, could not our Consul- 
General object to such a tragedy being performed ? Surely it is 
sufficient to confiscate his estates, and sentence that noble though 
unfortunate man to banishment, instead of garotting him ! 

I believe fifty of the subordinate offenders are to be trans- 
ported to the Manillas. It is sufficient to live for one fortnight 
under the rule of a despotism to be made sensible of the blessing 
of constitutional government. Here all is doubt and suspicion. 
This unhappy Pinto has a wife and seven or eight children, and 
he is said to be clever, brave, and well-intentioned : perhaps right 
in principle, though mistaken in the choice of means and the selec- 
tion of time : but I am assured that against him there is no accu- 
sation as to rebellion, but one of intended assassination of Con- 
cha, which is incredible. 

Upon entering the cutter again, we rowed a short distance 
out, for me to make a short sketch of the Moro from the sea, and 
I returned to the Caltou Hotel by ten o'clock. After dinner, 

Mr. P and I took a long drive round the suburbs of the city, 

and it was dark before we returned. We passed through Guano- 
bacova — a place famous for cock-fighting. There, I am told, 
hardly a house is without its fighting cocks. After our return, I 
went to take leave at the Palace, where my reception has been 
always obliging and polite. 

Areco oleacea is the palm which has given me so much trou- 
ble here. At last I have made up my mind it is no cocoa. This 
was my first idea ; but the difference of opinion and the total ig- 
norance about vegetation here led me to doubt my own correct- 
ness. Only yesterday, Monsieur Sauralle, a gentleman who has 



262 SNAKE MILKER. 

paid some attention to trees, assured me this palm, •which he de* 
signated Oresodoxa Begia, was not to be found in London ; yet it 
is there as Areca. I have had this morning my first introduction 
to a scorpion. I saw something in a little basket, standing close 
to the dressing-table, which I mistook for a fossil. I touched it 
with an exclamation, when a maid (fortunately not black) saw 
what it was, caught up the basket, and carried it at once to a man 
a few yards from my door, who killed the creature instantly. A 
negro woman would have laughed and stared, and have allowed it 
to sting me, before she would have remembered that a scorpion 
is an ugly customer. This is the first venomous thing I have met 
with in America, and it is the only one dangerous in Cuba ; not 
so bad either, I am assured, as the same creature in other locali- 
ties, for its bite seldom proves mortal here. There are some 
snakes to be found in the island, but none venomous. By-the-bye, 
yesterday a lady from Louisiana told me that a snake there (she 
could not say if it was a rattlesnake) milks the cows, and that it 
has the power of charming a cow once milked, back to the same 
spot, where she will call the reptile as if it was her calf. A red 
appearance in the milk left behind shows what has occurred ; 
but there is no danger to the life of the cow, and by being 
carefully shut up away from her snake milker, the mischief is 
repaired. 

Havana, 3Iarch 23. — No Crescent City has come in to-day, 
though the Isabel, from Charleston, the Philadelphia, from New 
York, and the Diver, British steamer, have all arrived ; we shall 
therefore be detained over to-night. There is a whisper that 
another political sufferer will be brought to the scaffold imme- 
diately. I have not heard particulars of that case ; but every fact 
which can be discovered confirms me in the suspicion that the 
death of Pinto was a murder — not an act of political justice. 
His last communication to a friend was his assurance, as a man 
of honour, that he died guiltless of those things for which his 
judges had condemned him. Five thousand people attended 
Pinto's execution ; solemnly and apparently mournfully, they 
witnessed his firm and calm submission to the garctte, after 



POSITION OF ENGLAND. 263 

having been refused the death of a soldier. This act must bring 
misery upon the heads of those who have caused it. 

I am told the British Consul had not sufficient diplomatic 
rank to warrant a protest from him. So while England is carry- 
ing on a crusade against the interests of the sugar planters, and 
which really injures and deteriorates the black race, it is abetting 
murder and tyranny over the whites ; and because this island 
bears the name of a colony (although of much more importance 
than Mexico), Englishmen have been imprisoned and ruined with- 
out redress ; and if a British subject dies here, there is no minister 
capable of protecting his property, or of saving his widow and 
family from an arbitrary interference with their rights. We have 
only power to do mischief, without making our influence felt for 
the advantage of our own people. This Government is, in fact, 
a Viceroyship. Havana (particularly at this moment) is a situa- 
tion of great importance, and yet the British Government have 
no strong and powerful representative. Here I feel so mortified 
at the poor figure England makes, that I quite long to get away 
from the place. I am packing up a box of fossils and recent 
corallines collected on these shores for the London Museum of 
Practical Geology ; except by the weight of the former, they are 
in such a perfect condition, that they would hardly be distinguished 
from fresh specimens. I cannot gain information where the older 
formations commence, but there is good coal on the island. I 
have picked up serpentine upon its shores, and I am told that 
there is granite somewhere towards the south. I have not seen 
more than sixty miles out of the seven hundred, to which length 
Cuba extends. 

Military uniforms are visible in every direction, and fortresses 
bristle all round this city, yet there is no such thing as public 
confidence, or a sense of general security. Poor Cuba ! from the 
little I have seen, I can hardly hope that the future will be free 
from bloodshed. No simple arrangement of sale and payment 
will settle her destinies, or give her prosperity. If individuals 
in this state of existence have to pass tlirough a discipline of trial, 
so it appears that nations must gain freedom through sufiering. 



264 SPANISH MISRULE. 

The day before yesterday was stormy, witli thunder and light- 
niug, fit accompaniments for that morning's work; so I was 
fortunate in not embarking upon a troubled sea, which may be 
less rough for our passage if we are to go on board this afternoon. 

Crescent City, March 25. — By half-past ten o'clock yesterday 
morning we got on board, being obliged to come two miles across 
the harbour in an open boat, because there is a regulation obliging 
the American steamers to coal at an inconvenient place; and 
though this vessel would have been able to come in last night, 
because she arrived after sunset the authorities obliged her to 
wait at the entrance till after the sun rose again, on pain of being 
fired at. Once, a captain, being ordered to moor himself along- 
side of a convict ship, refused to take that situation, and put out 
again to sea till the morning. 

The present Government of Cuba is permitting acts which 
tend to excite indignation and pugnacity in the United States. 
It is reported that some authorities have insulted and seized upon 
a Consul, and that a Spanish man-of-war has fired into an Ameri- 
can ship, and that the Capitan-Generale has neither ofi'ered 
redress nor apology. Havana is a tempting prize, and the Spanish 
Government affording a fair pretext, who can wonder that there 
are filibustering expeditions ^ Passing out of the harbour, a 
gentleman pointed out the spot where Ramon Pinto was executed. 
He described the scene as follows : — No very apparent show of 
military force, but the scaffold was erected in an open place, 
between a large barrack and the small fort opposite the Cabanos, 
from whence troops could have been drawn if necessary. We 
concluded the prisoner must have been moved from his dungeon 
in the night or early in the morning. AVhen all was prepared, 
he was brought out from the barracks, dressed in white, with a 
black cross upon his cap ; his companions, only the executioner 
and one priest ; a band playing the Dead March. He had only 
to walk about two hundred yards ; he simply declared his inno- 
cence of the crimes attributed to him, and then, after seating 
himself in the chair of death, he gave the signal ; the garotte was 
applied, and, without any apparent struggle, life soon became ex- 



MRS. STOWE. 265 

tinct : for a while, I know not how long, the body was left to be 
gazed at ; that sight perhaps made five hundred Pintos where 
there was one before, and raised a detestation of General Concha 
and his myrmidons which will probably cause the extinction of 
the Spanish rule in America, and bring down retribution upon 
the chief who now exercises it. Perhaps I have dwelt too long 
UT)on this terrible occurrence ; and writing as I have done at odd 
nioments it is possible I may have repeated facts, Jbut there has 
been no time to read back ; you have the feelings and the im- 
pressions as they arose, and at such a moment it has been impos- 
sible to write coolly or free from painful excitement. Thank God, 
I have now left that bloody shore. 

We have a large vessel and fine calm weather ; our captain 
says it will take three days to reach the bar of the Mississippi 
River ; I fear we shall enter it in the dark. The only peculiarity 
I have observed in this part of the Gulf of Mexico during our 
present voyage is the colour of the sea, which is unlike anything 
I have remarked elsewhere : it is neither green nor sky-blue, but 
precisely the tint of a sapphire — which the captain tells me is its 
usual appearance ; this colour does not seem to be affected by 
either clouds or sky, for though we have had a calm voyage so 
far, it has by no means been cloudless, and I write on the third 
day of our passage to New Orleans at a distance of six hundred 
miles from Cuba. On board, I have been reading Mrs. Stowe's 
Sunny Memoirs : it contains some pretty and true descriptions 
of scenes and facts in Scotland and England, and yet I cannot 
but regret that she did not meditate more deeply upon her own 
axiom, that — ' The power of fictitious writing, for good as well as 
evil, is a thing which ought to be most seriously reflected on,' — 
and not fgnorantly used. Had Mrs. Stowe lived for some months 
among the institutions and the people which, in Uncle Tom, she 
thoughtlessly, perhaps not intentionally vilified, she would have 
uszd, not misused her undoubted talents ; and as it is, she ought 
to have blushed at the fulsome flattery which called her novel 
' The gemiine application of the sacred Word of God to the 



26t) NEW 0RLEAN8. 

several hi^anclies of her subject.'' — Dr. M'Neile's Address, April 
nth, 1853. 

I did not say mucli about the aspect of Slavery in Cuba, be^ 
cause my opportunities for observing it were few. In a certain 
sense the white population there are slaves, and of course the 
state of the blacks is modified by that circumstance ; from what 
I heard, too, the social morality of the Cubans is at a very low 
ebb, their religious principles wretched, and the prevalence of 
immorality and irreligion will act and react upon the blacks as well 
as the whites ; so I do not believe Cuba to be a country where 
Slavery, as a system, can be fairly studied. We expect to reach 
the mouth of the Mississippi to-night: if there is no fog our 
captain will cross the bar ; but one hundred miles of the river 
must be traversed before our vessel reaches New Orleans, and I 
shall write no more till we get there. 

St. Charles Hotel^ New Orleans^ March 29. — We reached 
this place before three o'clock yesterday ; but owing to the tide 
swinging the Crescent City round just as she came up to her moor- 
ings, there was no landing till after four o'clock. I did not un- 
dress the night before, for our Seminole accident has made my 
nerves rather touchy at night ; and though we were off the Mis- 
sissippi before eleven, the captain was obliged to fire a gun three 
times, and at last dispatched a boat before he could get a pilot on 
board. The mouth of this river, and its channel for the first 
hundred miles, is narrow and poor compared with the Walaki, the 
St. Lawrence; or the beautiful Ottawa ; I am told it is wider 
higher up : as yet I have seen nothing on its low muddy banks 
but some thriving plantations fringed with neat negro dwellings. 
Till we arrived I did not know our steamer was named from the 
shape of the city, which is built upon the crescent form of the 
shore. I never saw such a fleet of steamers as line its wharves, 
no, not even at London or Liverpool : perhaps this is owicg to 
their being all moored together ; but there is more shipping here 
than I have observed in any of the other ports except New York 
and Boston. The place, though flat, is handsome and apparently 
well-built ; but although it has been for so many years attached 



NEW ORLEANS. 267 

to the United States, and the Creole population has not now a 
majority, yet they are an influential ingredient, and give the tone' 
to manners and customs ; so that New Orleans has more of a 
Southern air than even Charleston or Savannah. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



■^■O oOO-^ c^'^"^,.^ oOO-O ' C^'^^'^Cy o^'-^^o oO 
0^0-> ov^Oo r^<^^..^ Ck^Qo O'^O'-^ C"^0^ 



LETTER XXII. 



New Orleans, MarchSl, 1855. 

My dear Friends, — 

I left the St. Charles Hotel yesterday. Mr. Robert G , 

brother to my Virginian friend, called to bring me to his pleasant 
and comfortable house, and in what may be called the ' West 
end ' of New Orleans. I find myself established, and quite at 
home, with every luxury and attention that a traveller can re- 
quire. The weather is still as fresh and cold as an ordinary 
dreary March with us, though more roses are in bloom than we 
could find so early in the year in England. Several loquat trees 
{Eisohotria Japonica) placed round the garden are only just be- 
ginning to ripen their delicious fruit, with its golden, or rather 
apricot-coloured hue ; in most seasons before April, peas and straw- 
berries are plentiful, but they are not yet to be had. My ideas 
are rather puzzled about seasons : after the dog days in Cuba, I 
feel as if this ought to be autumn, not spring ; but I have no 
doubt that an interval of colder weather wll be salutary to our 
constitutions before we pass the approaching summer in the North- 
ern States. Instead of growing thin during my travels, I was 
beginning to fear that, on my return to England, I should make 
my appearance in too portly a style ; but three weeks at Havana 
have obviated that fear. In my room here it is pleasant to have 
a four-post bed, which brings English customs to mind. I never 
saw anything but French bedsteads in the North. No curtains 



BLAVEIIY VS. FREEDOM. 269 

are required ; a full and wide mosquito-net, without opening, and 
wliich is put back during the day, and looks like a transparent 
bonnet-box over the pillows, is drawn forward at night, and pro- 
tects me completely from the invasion of insects. This is a bet- 
ter contrivance than those at Cuba, where I found a persevering 
.mosquito would often succeed in establishing itself within the cur- 
tains. The wood of which the bedstead is made looks like a kind 
of walnut ; the top has a heavy projecting eave — this, I am told, 
is advantageous, as it gives room for the iron rod underneath upon 
which the mosquito-net is hung. While I am writing a black 
woman enters : they walk in and out of your room, just as the 
fancy takes them, without knocking ; and the door must be locked 
if one does not wish to be intruded on. The negroes are curious, 
and like to come and ask questions, and see what you are at ; so 
' Emily ' inquires if I will let her make the bed while I am in the 
room ; being as well inclined for a little talk as herself, I agree. 
She tells me the coloured people are well content and happy ; 
that she was ' raised in Yirginny,' and came here from Richmond ; 
that masters and mistresses about are very tender of their people ; 
that she has got her husband and three children, babies almost, 
the youngest an infant, then in the house ; she does odd jobs after 
dinner, but she says that on the plantations it is not often the 
people work after dinner (she is munching something all this 
while) ; they have usually task-work, which can be quickly done 
if they choose ; that the black population don't like bacon — 
' they likes to have fresh meat three times a day, and what they 
likes beside.' She seemed utterly astonished when I told her 
that the English working-people could seldom get meat at all, 
and that they had not as much firing as they chose, &c. &c. 
* Lord bless you, missus, that would never do at all here : why, 
some of the coloured ones have got a'most as much jewellery as 
their missuses ; they gets their own way tolerable somehow ; and 
they very often desires to be sold when they be affronted.' 
' Emily ' thought that in England slaves would have it all their 
own way entirely ; and this is the idea that darkies have of free- 
dom : plenty to eat and drink, finery to their heart's content 



270 SLAVERY VS. FUEEDOM. 

— ^no work. Here they despise the free negroes. One woman 
was offered her freedom in my hearing : she took the offer as an 
insult, and said, ' I know what the free niggers are, missus : they 
are the meanest niggers as ever was ; I hopes never to be a free 
nigger, missus.' A slave quarrelling with another black, after 
calling him names, at last sums up as the acme of contempt,- 
' You be a d d nigger without a master ! ' This is the conse- 
quence of the fact, that free negroes being idle and profligate are 
generally poor and miserable. A common reproach among them 
is to say, ' You he's as bad as a free nigger.' I think if any un- 
prejudiced person sees the state of the free black population in 
Canada, and then makes a tour of a few months in the Southern 
States, with an open eye and unprejudiced mind, he will come to 
the conclusion that things are better than names ; and that if by 
a ukase he could carry back all the darkies (from ignorance and 
misrepresentation induced to run away from their masters) he 
would benefit the blacks, whatever he might do for the whites, 
who, I believe, would be very much averse to receive these con- 
taminated negroes again, except from motives of duty and com- 
passion. 

Mrs. Stowe gives great credit to a young lady who, becoming 
the heiress of a few slaves, gave them all their freedom. I have 
heard of a young lady who succeeded to the possession of ne- 
groes, and nothing else ; by emancipating them she might have 
gained a fine character from the Abolitionists, and have cast off 
not only a responsibility, but a heavy expense ; instead of which 
she sought occupation for herself, laboured hard, and earned the 
means of existence for her poor black dependents, as well as her 
own living. Which of these two ladies acted the more Christian 
part ? Last night, conversing with a very intelligent gentleman 
who has travelled in Canada, I remarked that free negroes there 
were in a much more degraded, suffering, and irreligious state 
than any slaves I have seen ; and that they often reproach the 
whites with having, by false pretences, inveigled them to their 
destruction. He said, ' I will tell you a circumstance which oc- 
curred relative to that matter. A confidential black, who was 



SEPARATION OF NEGRO FAMILIES. 271 

treated with the greatest kindness by his master, took it in his 
head one day to run away, with the idea of establishing himself 
in Canada. When in that country I accidentally fell in with him, 
acting as waiter in an hotel : we immediately recognized each other; 
and, with tears in his eyes, he said, ' Oh, sir ! tell of the family ; 
how is this one, how is that ? ' I answered his inquiries, and 
then asked how he got on. ' I get on in the season pretty well ; 
I make some money, but very bad in the winter. Oh, sir ! beg 
my dear master for me ; beg him to forgive, and take me back 
again.' And I feel sure that these negroes who are not so far gone 
in drunkenness and profligacy, as to have lost all self-respect, 
would generally make the same request; exceptions only prove 
the rule. My woman on the Detroit River was taken care of by 
a husband, who, having occupation as a black pilot (an employ- 
ment for which their strong local perception peculiarly fits them), 
was the only really contented black I met with ; but she lost her 
children, and may, perhaps, end in being motherless; while in 
slavery, they would have been healthy. As to the separation of 
families, I see that great pains are taken to avoid that evil. 
I believe that it hardly occurs more frequently than in England 
from other causes : and I imagine a law might be enacted to 
make it less easy here. So in this case, as in every other social 
abuse, the governing power should regulate, but not wholly for- 
bid, or the result will be the encouragement of twenty evils where 
there was one before. I have seen a great many visitors to day ; 
among them some very agreeable people. 

April 1. — A dinner-party here included the Bishop and Mrs. 

P , Professors Biddell and Linton (the latter from St. Louis), 

Colonel Seymour, Dr. Smith, (&c., t&c. I am invited to accom- 
pany a party into the State of Mississippi to-morrow or Tuesday, 
as an expedition, and gladly accept. At nine o'clock Mr. Milten- 
berger called to take me to the Opera, to see the last two or three 
acts. I have been little gratified by the operas elsewhere in the 
States. At New York, Grisi and Mario were wretchedly sup- 
ported : and the dresses and choruses were so miserable that I 
was hardly inclined to do more than just look in at the house 



272 CUBAN WATCH CRIES. 

here ; but I was most agreeably surprised. The Italian Opera in 
London was never better 7nis en schne^ though Donizetti was given 
in French. I think the opera was La JReine de Chyprc. Al- 
though the prima donna was neither Grisi nor Sontag, her voice, 
expression, and acting, were all good ; her toilette perfect ; indeed, 
as a whole, I never saw a piece better costumd ; being close to 
the stage, the details were made evident to me ; and three fine 
male voices of different kinds, gave effect to the principal charac- 
ters. I must go again, and know more about this opera than it 
was in my power to find out last night. 

The house, though not large, is well arranged, but after a 
different plan from any one I ever saw before. I was told that 
being the last day of Lent, the Creole ladies were not there. This 
morning the weather is warm, some rain the night before last has 
softened the air, and I suppose now the summer will come here. 

Bv-the-bye, I got a lady to write down for me the extraordi- 
nary and terrific screams of the watchmen at Havana and Ma- 
tanzas. 1 must let you have the benefit of them, premising, of 
course, that the hours vary : — 

' Las diez y media y serene' 

' Las once y nublado.' 

' Las doce, y la ciudad esti siempre fidelisima.' 

As to the last assurance, 1 think I should not be sorry it 
should be a doubtful one. 

There is a report that the President of the United States has 
ordered some American men-of-war to go and sink the Spanish 
frio^ate which fired into the steamer. I don't much wonder if he 

o 

has done so ; and really I think Europe might be inclined to join 
with America in bringing the Spaniards to their senses, for as 
despots, they are quite as bad as the Russians when they dare to 
show their will, and in cruelty worse. I must tell a story, which 
will exemplify the mode of government and internal state of Cuba 
more graphically than anything else I can write. 

Not long ago there was a servile (meuie among the negroes of 
a plantation ; the authorities immediately seized the ringleaders, 



CUBAN LAW. 273 

tortured them with cat-o'-nine-tails, with nails in them, cutting flesh 
off their backs, inquiring all the time, ' Did so and so instigate you 
— or, so and so ? ' The poor blacks at first answered truly, ' No 
one told us — we did it ourselves.' At last the name of a planter 
forty miles off was mentioned, and not knowing him, to escape 
from torture one said, ' Yes, massa — he, massa.' This gentleman 
was busy on his grounds about three o'clock in the afternoon, 
when forty soldiers entered, and asked his name; he gave it, 
and civilly invited them to take some refreshment ; but they im- 
mediately put a rope round his neck, and proceeded to attach it 
to one of their horses. He entreated that if they meant to 
take him prisoner, they would at least allow him to mount one of 
his own saddle-horses. But no ; they actually trotted this man of 
property and education forty miles, dragging him after them. 
When they arrived at the place where he was to be confined and 
examined, eleven other people were selected to stand with him. 
The negroes were then brought in, and desired to point out 

Mr. . Fortunately for him, being quite unknown to them, 

they selected the wrong man ; but if by any accident they had 
pitched upon him, his life would have been the forfeit. As soon 
as his non-complicity was thus ascertained, the negroes were taken 

out and shot without further ceremony, and Mr. was allowed 

to find his way back to his own home. This is Cuban law and 
justice. It may be guessed what kind of a chance was afforded 
to Pinto. 

Yesterday, April 1st, was Sunday ; Bishop P called and 

took me to his church, where the service was like ours, with the 
exception only of a few omissions. The interior of the edifice 
was ornamented with sufficient painted glass to throw a cool light 
into it without making it obscure, and all the decorations were in 
good taste. The 1st of April might have been May with us — 
the temperature just high enough for enjoyment. 

April 2. — Mrs. G took me to visit a lady in the neigh- 
bourhood, in whose garden I found many things new to me, 
principally shrubs. A capsicum as small as a pea, which looks 
like something different from what we call bird pepper ; and a 
12* 



274 DINNER AT THE BRITISH CONSUL'S. 

privet, which, though the leaves resemble a Chinese privet, I 
think is hardly the same, as it is quite a timber tree, and very 
handsome. I gathered many seeds. 

I, dined with the British Consul, Mr. Muir, and met hig 
mother-in-law, an agreeable old lady, though she is of the Wil- 
berforce and Hannah More school, almost the only person I have 
met with South who still advocates abolitionist ideas ; her son-in- 
law, a clergyman, and a granddaughter did not agree with her in 

opinion. I afterwards drank tea with the Bishop and Mrs. P . 

One remark of his struck me : he said, that for the sake of the 
Christian and moral welfare of the Irish emigrants and the African 
negroes, he would desire to pass a majority of the former through 
the kitchens, and all the latter through the plantations, of the 
United States. The Irish paupers are so ultra in their politics, 
and so saucy in their manners, that they have given rise to the 
' Know-nothing ' movement, which, however reprehensible in its 
mode of proceeding, is only a practical illustration of the im- 
possibility of fairly carrying out the idea of equality. These 
emigrants are, without doubt, as a class, the most disagreeable 
and overbearing people in the Union. They are specimens of the 
true democrat when united with ignorance — levelling all above 
themselves, and insolent to those they fancy beneath them. 

Bishop P walked home with me ; no bonnet, and hardly a 

shawl was required ; the evening balmy and pleasant — just per- 
fect in temperature. 

OsyJca, April 5. — I date from one of those marvellous places 
in the Bush, which in this part of the world are born, educated, 
and grown up in the course of a few months. When I landed at 
Boston, there was not a tree felled where this town is now in 
existence ; yet I am in a comfortable hotel entertaining thirty or 
forty guests daily at its tahle-dlwte. This house, the woman 
said, ' had been built full five months.' The town as yet does not 
consist of more than fifty houses ; but there are two hotels, three 
or four stores, a good railway station, and everything else looking 
as if established thirty years, excepting that as yet there is no 
church, and the stumps of trees are still left in all directions. 



RAILROAD ACCIDENTS. 275 

But I must begin from the beginning, and tell the adventures 
which have obliged me to sleep at Osjka, with an uncertainty 
as to when I am to get back to New Orleans. As I had made 
two pleasant acquaintances there — Dr. Smith and Dr. Riddell 
(the latter has bought a house and property eighty-six miles off, 
in the Mississippi territory, where he means to move his wife and 
family when the heat sets in) — they invited me to accompany 
them in an expedition to see a pretty country beyond the pine 
barrens, which stretch away as far as the State of Mississippi ; a 
railroad has been opened in that direction during the last year. 
We started yesterday at seven o'clock; at a station about half- 
way here, one of the points being wrong, the engine ran off and 
plunged deep into a quagmire ; the train was brought-up without 
damage to any one except a poor boy, who was at that moment 
oiling the cow-catcher : he imprudently jumped off, and he was 
so seriously injured that he is since dead. We got out, walked 
to the station, and in about half an hour another engine was at- 
tached to the cars ; we reached Osyka by two o'clock, though, at 
my request, the conductor brought-up the train for a few minutes 
to get some specimens of a very curious water-plant, something 
between a Pothos and an Orontium, which Dr. Riddell agrees 
with me is new : it resembles Loudon's description of Pothos 
acaulis, having leaves quite destitute of nerves, but the spike is 
hexandrous, not triandrous. 

There was some difficulty in getting a conveyance five miles 
to the pretty location, which Dr. Riddell promises to call 
* Chatawa ' (Silver Spring). There is a beautiful spring close to 
the house, and various mineral springs, containing iron and soda, 
at a short distance from it. I walked about a mile and a half 
through the forest, delighted by the brilliant butterflies and 
flowers. I found old acquaintances in our gardens at every step 
— A^iola cucullata, Sisyrinchium anceps, Verbena Aubletia, Hous- 
tonias, Phloxes, Alliums, and Trilliums, a curious Asarum, and 
a plant with two leaves {PodophylluTn^ May apple), which they 
tell me produces a fruit so excellent, and so fragrant when ripe^ 
that it can be scented yards away. The people call it May apple. 



276 DETENTION AT OSTKA. 

I shall find out its trivial name, but at present it has only just 
put forth leaves, and there is no sign of a flower. It is not more 
than a foot in height, with toothed foliage as large as a cucumber 
leaf, but smooth, shining, and variegated. At ' Chatawa,' I found 
a numerous German-Polish family — children of all ages — fathers, 
mothers, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces — very hospitable people, 

who have sold their house to Dr. M , with the intention of 

flitting to Osyka, which will soon be a place of consideration. I 
had a comfortable bed, and all the necessaries of life, though not 
many of its luxuries; and, aft^r twenty-four hours of enjoyment 
in a lovely spot, with every promise of increased beauty under 
better cultivation, I got into a wagon and left the banks of the 
TangipahOcY River and the mineral springs which surround it, 
with regret that I could not follow the projected line of the rail- 
road (as yet only complete to Osyka, so called by the first pro- 
prietor after an Indian beauty), thirty miles farther to the river 
Balsala, where I understand the scenery is still fine; and perhaps 
I might have done so instead of spending another day and night 
here, for when we arrived at half-past one o'clock yesterday to 
take the two o'clock cars, no train had arrived, nor has yet arrived 
from New Orleans. Either some accident, some damage, to the 
locomotive, or some obstruction, has occurred ; and now, at eight 
o'clock on Thursday the 5th, we are still detained, without being 
able to guess when we are to have the means of return. Still, I 
am not bored — there is plenty of interest and amusement ; for I 
find fortification agates and flint fossils in the railway-cutting 
above, besides the "flowers of the pine barrens around, and as long 
as the cars which were to fetch us have not sunk in some of the 
swamps we yesterday traversed (when the train danced up and 
down on the line more than was pleasant, from the boggy nature 
of the ground), I am content to wait here for twenty-four hours 
more. 

New Orleans, April 6. — The cars came up to Osyka so as to 
bring us back here by seven o'clock last night. It seems they 
had other accidents during their return on the 3rd. by running 
over cattle, till the locomotive jumped into a bog, fortunately 



ASYLUM FOR WIDOWS. 277 

breaking its couplings, so that the cars were left on the line, where, 
of course, the passengers sat up all night. Between damaging 
engines and killing cows, the economy of leaving railroads with- 
out protecting them by fences, in a country where wood is of such 
easy attainment, appears to me very short-sighted. Thunder- 
storms began early to-day ; they accompanied our journey, and 
have been pealing and blazing all night. I never saw such light- 
ning ; and the torrents of rain are sufficient, I should think, to 
overflow the Mississippi and swamp New Orleans, situated as it is 
lower than the river. I cannot understand how this city keeps 
out of the water. I hear about banks called levies, but Holland 
must be a joke in comparison to this amphibious place. 

April 7. — Yesterday, being Good Friday, was strictly kept 
here : that is not the case, I believe, in any other State of the 
Union. The day was gloomy, but not wet; an afternoon rainbow 
gave promise of fine weather, which is realized this morning, and 
I hope to see more of the environs of New Orleans than I have 
done as yet. 

April 8. — Another execution at Havana. But however severe 
and cruel the Cuban policy may be, there seems to have been suf- 
ficient proof that Estampes was engaged in a conspiracy against 
Spanish despotism, and therefore his condemnation stands on dif- 
ferent grounds from that of Bamon Pinto. 

I visited a widows' asylum, not long opened here, which ap- 
pears to be one of the best regulated charities I have ever seen. 
It does not separate mothers from children, but offers a home to 
both, only premising that the former are to contribute their 
labour, as washer-women, sempstresses, &c. &c. towards the sup- 
port of the institution. A few pensioners without families are 
sheltered and provided for, when incapable of exertion ; but the 
system is one of assistance to those who are willing to work. 

Order, cleanliness, and comfort reign throughout the asylum ; 
and an excellent Scotch matron superintends it, under the direc- 
tion of a committee. The children, from infants of a few days 
to those able to be employed, are well trained and taught under 
the eye of their mothers. All the inmates expressed themselves 



278 UNHEALTHY LOCATION. 

with gratitude ; in some cases resj^ectable aged widows had theii 
private apartment ; in others we saw mothers with their own two 
or three children. Widows without families have a separate 
eating-room, and live at one side of the house, away from the 
noise of children. 

I heard an amusing story yesterday, exemplifying negro cha- 
racter. A gentleman had ordered one of his black gardeners to 
widen a ditch, and as he complained of the difficulty of the job, 

Mr. engaged a white labourer to assist him. The two men 

were left to work on together. After a while the master went to 
see how the job got on : he found that the Irishman had done 
three times the work the other had accomplished. 

' How is this, Charles ?' said Mr. ; ' you have done very 

little. See how much more the other labourer has finished. 

' Ah, massa, that very true ; but white man use to work. You 
can't 'spect me — a nigger — demean myself like he.' 

And it is generally so : the negroes consider themselves as 
privileged, instead of being degraded by their situation. A black 
complained that his m.aster did not use him well. ' But how is 
that ; pray do you not get good bread ? ' — ' Yes, massa, pretty 
good bread.' — ' Have you not enough, then ? Are you over- 
tasked ? Do you get as much meat as you like ? ' — ' Ay, massa ; 
but then the meat too fat^ — me don't 'prove fat meat.' When 
masters or mistresses want change, it is a common occurrence 
for them to apply to their negroes, who have almost always silver 
jibout them. 

It is observed that many of the Irish emigrants have the same 
unfounded notions of their prospects in America, as those enter- 
tained by some negroes, of England. An Irishman begging, was 
offered a job of work ; he accepted it, but said he thought it 
' very hard.' — ' Hard,' said his employer; 'what do you mean? 
Did )'0U come here and expect to pick up gold in the streets ? ' — 
* No, not altogether that, but I thought if I asked for it, it would 
be given me.' — ' But suppose I divided what I have with you — 
what would happen when that should be gone ? ' — ' Arrah J ' said 
Pat, ' I don't exactly know — but I suppose then we must divide 
again 1 



riNTO S CONSPIRACY. 279 

I cannot wonder tbat this place is unhealthy during the hot 
season ; there are deep gutters and stagnant waters at the sides 
of almost all the streets. It would be a marvel if yellow fever, 
or something of the kind, did not prevail. Whether the situa- 
tion is so low that good drainage is impossible, I cannot say ; 
but I only wonder that the population is not decimated every 
summer. I should be sorry to take my chance in such a swamp. 

On Sunday I attended a church where the singing, though 
good in its way, reminded me more of a Roman Catholic than a 
Protestant house of worship ; it was not congregational, but 
operatic. 

April 9. — I have been occupied all the morning writing letters 
to England. The Illustrated News of the 10th of March gives 
an apocryphal report of the ' Dangerous Conspiracy at Cuba,' in 
which Ramon Pinto is asserted to have announced his intention 
of assassinating the Capitan-Grenerale in his box at the opera. 
This is the authorized version, I suppose; but no person ac- 
quainted with the character of Pinto will believe it true. In the 
first place, even his enemies admit that he was a man of sense, 
talent, and principle ; and those who know the present state of 
Havana must be well aware that such a plot would have been 
absurd and silly, as well as wicked. Anonymous and false stories 
are easily got up and propagated when a man is dead, and cannot 
refute them ; but the time will come for such accusations to recoil 
upon the inventors. 

Certainly the black servants in this country are more petted 
and humoured than even the domestics of Europe ! There is an 
ingenious kind of diorama of the Pilgrimh Progress^ now exhib- 
iting here. Six household blacks, belonging to a lady here, were 
to go and see it. In England three servants would have gone 
one evening, and three another ; but here they preferred to enjoy 
the sio-ht all together, so the mistress and her dauo-hters undertook 
every department of household work, even to that of the kitchen, 
that the black ladies and gentlemen might gratify their wishes. 
I could write fifty stories of this kind, which prove the kindness 
and consideration shown towards the race called slaves. The 



280 REMARKS ON SLAVERY. 

name of * dark children' would, in nine cases out of ten, be more 
appropriate. It is the fashion with us to cry up the Spanish 
system in preference to that of the United States. Whatever the 
laws may be, I feel sure there is more of oppression and cruelty 
to bo detected in Cuba than in all the other Southern States put 
together. We must bear in mind that the best laws will not 
prevent the possibility of their violation ; and I sometimes doubt 
whether more cases of cruelty and over-work, and even starvation, 
among apprentices and ' maids-of-all-work' in Great Britain might 
not be discovered, than we could detect in the households and 
plantations here. The buying and selling operation is certainly 
very unpleasant and revolting to our ideas, and the whites here 
dislike it ; but it is curious how very little is thought of the 
matter by the blacks themselves. It is not true that women can 
be sold away from their children ; but slaves often urge their 
masters and mistresses to sell them for some fancy or freak, and 
a gentleman to-day had a quarrel with his negroes, because he 
wanted to set them free. 'It's very hard, master; you have a 
right to keep us, master;' and at last the majority positively 
refused to go, even though master offered them a ' fit out ' if they 
would accept their freedom. I believe they are quite right. 
With all my love of liberty, if I was of the black race, I should 
much prefer being a slave upon one of the Southern plantations, 
than any free black man or woman I ever met with in America. 
So, in now thinking Slavery not so bad an institution, I act up to 
the maxim of ' doing as I would be done b}^' This week I am 
going to visit plantations in this neighbourhood, but I have now 
seen so much and thought so much upon the general question, and 
also of the character of negroes as a race, that I do not think 
anything I may see in Louisiana, Texas, or Kentucky, can much 
alter my conclusions. My wish has been to seek after truth ; I 
suppose many will doubt my having attained it, but one thing I 
know, that it has been sought for by an unprejudiced mind, without 
reference to any ulterior consequences. No pains or fatigue have 
deterred me from investigation. I give you the fruits of it — 
consquences are not my ail'air. 



THE MISSISSIPPI. 281 

Last night I went to see the diorama exemplifying the Pil- 
grimh Progress, in the hope that it might make me more 
worthy than I am of a work which has been one of the most 
highly valued of all literary productions ; but in vain — excepting 
the Parables, and one or two stories in the Spectator, I never 
could enjoy anything allegorical. A brief allegory is very well 
— but an allegorical volume ! I never could wade through it ! 

All the houses here, except some in the old town and centre 
streets, have gardens — not very extensive, generally from a quar- 
ter to half an acre; but the soil and climate are such that every- 
thing grows luxuriantly. Magnolias, jessamine, roses, oranges, 
lemons, loquats, and a hundred other things beautiful and good ; 
and then the mocking birds and butterflies, and the pretty little 
chameleons ! For this month it is delightful to be at New Orleans ; 
but one month in the year in this city — that should be all. I 
would not be a resident here for any temptation that could be of- 
fered me. I wonder whether the Mississippi will ever descend 
from its trough and make an excursion to Lake Pontchartrain ? 
It has wandered about here and there in its time, and it is a 
marvel to me how this same river now keeps up above the sur- 
rounding country. It brings down so much clay from above, 
that when the water runs over, it makes a kind of boundary for 
itself at the edge, and this, with the help of artificial levees, makes 
the great stream stay in its course. But I am disappointed to 
find it so ugly and muddy ; they say this is all the fault of the 
Missouri, which darkens and spoils the complexion of the Missis- 
sippi after their union. 

Thursday, April 12. — Yesterday I went to a wedding. Like 
all others I have attended, the ceremony (episcopal) took place in 
a room ; otherwise it was very pleasing. The bride and bride- 
groom remained for lunch, but no toasts were given. The ladies 
all sat down, waited on by the gentlemen, and when we left the 
room the gentlemen took possession of the table. After dinner, I 
walked to call on the Bishop and on Mrs. Polk. Visits in these 
countries are usually paid in the evening, to avoid the heat of the 
sun. It was the same in Cuba. 



282 PLANS. 

Yesterday, a clergyman who has been long in the employment 
of the Colonization Society for establishing free negroes in Africa 
(the Bishop presides over the one here), called to make his report. 
His views accord with those I have advocated. He is convinced 
that there has been too hasty emancipation, and that the Liberian 
plan has been much injured by a want of discrimination in the 
choice of the blacks sent out there. He told us a mulatto from 
Louisiana was anxious to keep his people under the same control 
which benefits them here, to avoid throwing them into the contami- 
nation of Liberian society ; but the charter of freedom in that 
Colony is so strict, that his only resource was to get far enough 
to be out of the reach of mischief, and to bind his people by the 
apprenticeship law, which, though good as far as it goes, does not 
tend as much either to the happiness or the ultimate good of the 
negro as the slavery system well administered. When this is the 
opinion of Ministers of the Gospel, and of Bishops, not themselves 
slaveholders, is it reasonable of the abolitionist theorizers in Eng- 
land and America to fancy that their opinion and their conclusions 
are the only true and scriptural ones ? 

On Sunday next, I find that a steamer sails for Texas. Upon 
good advice, my plan is to land at Galveston, across a large land- 
locked bay, and up a bayou to Houston, where we can procure a 
stage to a Texas Washington ; from thence I can reach the capi- 
tal, Austin, on the Colorado Biver, a place which, though border- 
ing upon inaccessible forests, I am told has great beauty of 
scenery in its neighbourhood. I wish to avoid wild Indians and 
poisonous snakes, so I must not attempt to penetrate inland ; it is 
said that from Austin we must come down somewhere between the 
two rivers La Bara and Colorado, to Matagorda Bay, where a 
steamer will be attained to bring us back here, touching at Galves- 
ton. The voyages must be about two days and nights each way. 
You will think me adventurous to undertake this ; but these new 
countries are so interesting to a person fond of Natural History 
aud fine scenery, that one makes up one's mind to undergo some 
inconvenience and difficulty for the great pleasure with which the 
journey is repaid. Then there is the stimulant of an only oppor- 



A PATERNAL SLAVEHOLDER. 283 

tunitj 1 The idea that I never again can hope to have another 
opportunity for transatlantic tours, makes me willing to undergo a 
great deal, — and on the whole, I think Southern scenery will be 
better worth my while than the Falls of St. Anthony, or even Lake 
Superior. I walked this morning from the St. Charles Hotel to 
the cottage, and found Professor Riddell returned from Chatawa. 
We looked at specimens of Orontium aquaticum, and decided our 
Osyka specimens are not the same Orontium as that. I then 

went to see Mr. L , who promises to take me to his plantation 

to-morrow. 

Neiv Orleans^ April 14. — We missed the train yesterday by 
two minutes, owing to the ferry-boat which crosses the river to 

the station being too late ; but Mr. L , being a director of 

that railroad, got us into a baggage truck of a succeeding train, 
in which, comfortably seated on boxes, we reached our destina- 
tion. Mr. L carried a bag of sugar-pluxs for the little 

negroes. We saw more than fifty under ten years of age on the 

two plantations. The black people seemed to consider Mr. L 

more in the light of their father than their master, their black 

hands held out to him and Mrs. F , without either doubt or 

fear, and at every corner some darky was to be met, with a re- 
quest or an inquiry. We returned in the evening, after apleasant 
and satisfactory day, having visited two sugar estates, at a dis- 
tance of from twenty to twenty-five miles from New Orleans on 
the Mississippi. 

On hoard the Steamer Louisiana, hound for Texas, April 
15. — Yesterday was a busy day. Before nine in the morning 

Mr. D took me a drive to dig up some roots of a pretty Iris 

(Hexagona)^ which I had seen flowering in one of the canals 
which surround tke city. These canals, half natural and half 
artificial, are communications between the river and the lakes at 
the back of the city : they are called Bayous. At one o'clock I 
went to the apartments of some ladies in the St. Charles Hotel, 
from whence the British Consul accompanied us to the stand on 
the course, from whence we siiw a race between two celebrated 
horses, Lexington and Leconte. A few days before, the former 



284 A KIGH-METTLED RACER. 

won a matcli against time, by going four miles in seven minutea 
and twenty seconds ; lie now beat his antagonist with such ease 
the first four-mile heat, that the owner of Leconte requested 
leave to witlidraw his horse, and the people were disappointed of 
the expected second heat. I was glad, being quite content that 
the fine animals should be excused further contest. Though I 
have often been at English races, I never before saw a horse 
more graceful, or more beautifully formed, with such apparent 
gentleness and good temper, and yet with such an air of conscious 
superiority as this Lexington : he ran like a deer, without either 
efibrt or straining, and his firm, elastic, reaching step in walkiag, 
gave one confidence that it would hardly be possible for any 
other horse to match him. Yet he has four very white feet, 
which hitherto has been considered a bad sign; his colour a 
bright dark-bay, with white star on his forehead ; not a very 
small head, but with ears well-placed; a fine large tail; not 
bony-looking, but I was told his backbone is remarkably large ; 
fifteen hands three inches high; one eye full and wild, but the 
right eye less convex ; nostrils large ; jawbone uncommonly wide ; 
shoulder strong and very oblique ; he has not a long back or long 
legs, but his action is quite beautiful, so powerful, free and elas- 
tic, as if movement was no trouble to him. Thus, I have written 
you a rather groomish history. I don't know that I ever took 
so much pains to describe a horse before, but really this one was 
worth the pains. The ground was much crowded ; it is a two- 
mile course — no, by-the-bye, the horses went three times round 
to make up their four miles. The situation between the New 
Orleans Cemeteries and Lake Pontchartrain ; near, and upon the 
course, are some fine live oaks ornamented by the drooping Til- 
landsia. In the evening I went to the Opera, where I saw many 
Creole beauties; but the opera was a new one, which I did not 
admire as much as La Beine de Chypre. This morning at eight 

o'clock Mr. G took me on board the Galveston steamer, 

Louisiana. The river was calm, but very muddy; it is about 
as wide here as the Thames at Greenwich. The town and ship- 
ping looked gay under a brilliant morning sun. I meant to send 



LETTER FROM ENGLAND. 28o 

this letter from New Orleans, but forgot to do so, and now I 
shall try to get it off from Texas. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 

Extracted from an English Letter^ hy permission. 

March, 1855. 
To me much has happened, within the last few months, show- 
ing manhood and womanhood. This expedition of nurses — this 
woman's crusade in the service of the sufferers by war and pesti- 
lence ; Florence Nightingale entreated rather than requested by 
the government to take the command; in one week the necessary 
preparations were made — Protestants, Catholics, Sectarians, all 
forgot their isms^ and verified the story in Evenhigs at Home. 
Look at the consequences, independently of the direct object. A 
woman is called upon by the public to take a lead in the humane 
department of war, amidst difficulties and dangers which it has 
hitherto been thought indelicate for a woman to encounter, yet 
she is of the true feminine type — of a caste accustomed to the 
luxuries and refinements of life, not blighted by misfortune, in 
the vigour of youth, not exalted by party influences, for she be- 
longs to no party. The truth has done it. Perhaps the two finest 
instances of heroism in the British campaign are these — the death of 
Sir William Young when giving the precious draught to a wound- 
ed Russian, receiving in return a mortal shot ; the absolute lone- 
linesss of Dr. Thomson, left with hundreds of the dead and dying, 
and certatn to be visited by Cossacks, fulfilling his ministry, 
escaping then, to die a few days after of cholera; and what can 
surpass the exploit of the more fortunate Lieutenant Maxse, 
riding through a tract of country occupied by the Russians, to 
carry in his own breast (for writing was not safe) orders from 
Lord Raglan to the fleet ? And the poet has mingled his breath 
with the cannon's roar and the last pulsation of the soldier's 
heart : a soldier from the ranks was heard by one near him ou 
the battle-field, to utter with his last breath — ' Footprints on the 
Bands of time ; ' the soldier was from Brighton, and the writer ot 



286 ADDRESS TO AMERICANS. 

tlie account did not know the words to be Longfellow's : tie had 
heard them quoted in a sermon of Robertson's. 

ON THE DEATH OF NICHOLAS. 

He fell like a column which, firm at its base, 

Was unshaken a moment before. 
No vestige of crumbling decay marked the place 

Where it stood — the wide world looking o'er. 

'Twas not for the hand of a mortal to dare 

The red bolt of vengeance to grasp ; 
He seiz'd it unshrinking — he vow'd not to spare, 

But fatal fire burn'd in that grasp. 

For Power is a Nemesis, sent to destroy 

The will that submits not to law : 
Once more 'tis revealed ! Oh, profane not with joy 
What nations should witness with awe ! 
March, 1855. 



ADDRESS TO AMERICANS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

ON THEIR liEPORTED WANT OF SYMPATHY. 

' Aji I my brother's keeper ? ' says the New World to the Old ; 
It cannot be, it cannot be ! your hearts have grown so cold 
That ye can hear, without one pang, the dirge across the wave 
For England's bravest sons who find on Eastern shores a grave. 

Has every drop of Saxon blood been chased from out your veins ? 
Are not our ancient glories yours, although ye scorned our chains ? 
Ev'n then ye proved one ancestry, a kindred bond of yore, 
With those bold men of Runny mede who Freedom's charter bore. 

Oh ! by that name — by every field our noble fathers won. 

Ere yet your fearless bark of faith had sought the Western sun, 

Disown not now the common cause — betray it not to might. 

Nor dai'e to raise a neutral flag when Wrong contends with Right. 

A. I. N. B. 



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LETTEK XXni. 



New Orleans. } 
Ajyril 6, 1S55. f 



My dear Friends, — 

At last your letters dated January have reached me ; pro- 
bably more will come by a steamer which I see has arrived at 
Boston: it is well that a treble or a double set did not ccme at 

once. Only now I am made aware, for the first time, of 's 

resignation of the editorship she volunteered. I don't think I 
should ever have thought of the publication if she had not pro- 
posed it, but I could not write to her what I did not see or think. 
I am sorry, and think she had better have trusted to my endea- 
vour to tell the truth, which, if it is not the truth, can never 
hurt any cause : but the subject in question is too serious a mat- 
ter to be blinked for the sake of any individual friendship or in- 
dividual interest, and at any cost I must sacrifice the opinions and 
impressions of friends to my own honest convictions. I might 
hesitate or doubt, if I trusted only or wholly to my own unaided 
judgments and perceptions ; but when these are justified by the 
opinions of nearly all the people who appear to me in other re- 
spects the best and wisest on this side the Atlantic — for though 
authority may not be much, evidence is a great deal, and I feel 
supported and encouraged by a hope that I may at any rate do 
something to counteract the evils which in my judgment have 
arisen out of mistaken and superficial inquiries — Northern clergy- 
men in Florida, Scotch ministers in the North, and bishops with 
dioceses each as large as all England ; men devoted to religion, 



288 TRANSATLANTIC 8YMPATHT. 

charity, and learniug — self-sacrificers, fearless, incorruptible ; men 
wlio have never quailed or hesitated in the most difficult and awful 
paths of duty, when cholera lay on their right hand and yellow 
fever on their left; Bishops of Georgia and of Louisiana — Elliott, 
the nurse, the consoler, the comforter — walking calmly about 
among the pestilential corpses of thousands of his fellow-citizens 
— can such a man as this be blinded by interest or prejudice to 
say that apparent slavery is in most cases real freedom to the black 
man, and a severe trial of responsibility only to the white ? I 
cannot help fearing that we have been running a tilt against civi- 
lization and the best interests of religion, whilst in our ignorance 
we have fancied ourselves the champions of Christendom ? Some 
of my friends in the North say it is the abolitionists only who 
have sympathized with England during her late sorrows. I am 
glad they have felt sympathy ; but I find sympathy also among the 
people we have ill-used and vilified, and that is even more touching 
and precious than the kindly feeling of those whose mistakes we 
haved petted and encouraged. I am afraid what I am writing 
will not please any of you ; but do not fancy I have been hood- 
winked and cheated into an advocacy of Southern institutions, 
when, wholly unknown and unstispected, I have seen with my own 
eyes, and heard with my own ears. Of course I cannot write half 
the evidence I have collected ; evils I do not deny ; and where 
are they not to be found ? 

It is now as cold here as Christmas, and as cold as November. 

Many thanks for the Multum in Parvo. does not say if she 

undertakes the editorship which repudiates : if not, it must 

wait till I get back. I do not wish to wear out 's eyes or 

patience, but, to avoid a bad return for the hospitalities shown 
me, I have mentioned here the intended publication, a strong 
interest in the matter has been expressed, and I am assured by 
my American friends that they will not complain of my abusing 
them a little^ because they believe that I shall not do so spitefully, 
which is certainly true : but I would not ' marry a slaveholder,' 

as recommends, depend upon it, if I could ; a situation which 

involves such a trial of patience and philanthropy would be quite 



NEGRO CHARACTER. 289 

beyond me. I think I should turn savage myself if I was bound 
to be served for the rest of my life by darkies ; only their child- 
ishness could induce me to bear with them. You should hear 
R illustrate the comforts of negro servants ! and in my pri- 
vate opinion no earthly power can ever wash the blackamoor white, 
morally or physically ; though it is possible, by great pains and 
perseverance, to advance them to piehaldism. I dare say I pro- 
voke you by repeating the same things over and over again : it is 
so difficult to remember what I have written. 

I am going to stay for a while with the brother and sister of 
my American acquaintance in London : her gratitude has been 
so unbounded, that I believe it is that which has made me popular 
in the United States ; we met at New York, and I hope we may 
meet again before I return home. I think of staying here until 
the weather improves : it is too cold to think of stirring yet; but 
I intend by-and-bye to get a peep at Tennessee and the Mammoth 
Cavern. This is a short letter, but it shall go by the next post. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



18 



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LETTEK XXIY. 

Galvkston, Texas, U. S., ) 
April 17, 1855. J 

My dear Friends, — 

I ougnt to have sent my last packet from New Orleans, 
instead of whicli, owing to hurry, I have brought it here, from 
whence I am afraid its despatch will be more distant and less 
secure. After a passage of thirty-six hours we arrived here last 
night. Although the weather was very fine, there was a swell of 
the waves, which made the majority of the passengers unhappy. 

II says she was worse than in crossing the Atlantic. I was 

not positively ill, but rather uncomfortable yesterday ; and as I 
hear of a mail route from Austin, the capital of this State, viA 
Natchitoches and the Red Kiver, I mean to return to New 
Orleans that way ; we shall then only have three or four miles of 
a river steamer instead of the sea-voyage. But it has only been 
by failing in with a gentleman living in that territory that I have 
ascertained the possibility of a land journey. I was told even 
by Texas residents at New Orleans that there were no convey- 
ances ; but arrangements in these new countries are so rapid that 
circumstances one year ago may have been all changed in the last 
few months. As yet I have only looked out of the window of the 
Trcmont Hotel. This seems a clean, fiat, sandy place ; the houses 
irregularly built, and all of plank, but comfortable-looking, as these 
wooden houses are, unless they are set on a blaze. There are 
many savage tribes to the north-east of this State, but the theatre 



PARISIAN PERRUQUIERS. 291 

of the present war between the United States and the Indiaiis is 
one thousand miles off. Beyond Austin there are Comanches, 
Pawnees, Keswa3^s, Cherokees, and Creeks, and towards Missouri, 
the Osages ; but the Choctaws, which tribe borders upon the Red 
Eiver and the settled lands, are the gentlest and most civilized 
of all these nations ; so, while the other tribes are in a way to be- 
come extinct, the Choctaws keep up their numbers. They boast 
that they have never embrued their hands in the blood of any 
white man. They have comfortable houses and a settled polity — 
sheriffs, &c. &c. ; and there is an idea of some day admitting 
them as a State into the Union. I saw one of them attending the 
educational convention at Washington in European dress, and 
looking like a gentleman. I should like to visit that people. On 
board the Louisiana I conversed with a military man who has 
been through great part of Florida. From him I learned that the 
river which runs up by Appalachicola is for some distance like a 
gulf; he does not know if it is lost in the swamps by Alligator 
Swamp towards the Altamaha and Savannah rivers, but that is 
probably the case ; and after seeing the narrow channels which 
divide some of the islands south of Florida, it is easy to believe 
that it also was once separated from the mainland. 

The distance from hence to New Orleans by sea is about four 
hundred miles. Galveston is an island. I have just returned 
from a drive along some fine sands which extend for miles upon 
the fiat shore, where there must be excellent bathing. The 
population of the town appears to be a mixture of Germans, 
Dutch, French, English, and Americans. Almost all the trades- 
people I spoke to were of the first-mentioned nation. I was 
surprised to see such a number of hairdressers in proportion to 
the size of the place : there are three within a stone's-throw of 
our hotel, — ' Hyppolite and Batiste,' from Paris ! where hair is 
'instantly dyed,' and wigs, toupets, and fronts are well made, 
&c., &c. Artificial proceedings for outward adornment which 
are now little practised in France and England, appear to have 
emigrated to this side the Atlantic. 

Washington, Texas, April 19. — We left Galveston in the 



292 BAYOU NAVIGATION. 

Houston steamer at four o'clock, to go fifty miles up the baj 
and forty miles up the bayou to Houston. These bayous are very 
curious. I observed one of them at New Orleans, but not having 
ascended it in a boat, I was not fully, aware what odd sea-ditches 
they are. They must be peculiar to this coast — I never heard of 
them elsewhere — and I imagine their navigation is one of the 
most singular in the world. It was a bright starlight night when 
we ascended that which leads from Galveston Bay inland. I sat 
upon the prow of the vessel, with another lady, from eight o'clock 
till midnight, too much interested to think of either fatigue or 
damp. Our steamer, near two hundred feet long, was navigated 
the whole way through a channel hardly more than eighty feet 
wide, though deep enough to float a man-of-war. Negroes holding 
braziers of blazing pine-wood, stood on each side the vessel, 
illuminating . our passage, the foliage and even the beautiful 
flowers so near that we could almost gather them as we floated 
by ; a small bell was ringing every instant, to direct our engi- 
neers; one moment the larboard paddle, then the starboard, 
was stopped or set in motion, or the wheels were altogether 
standing still, while we swung round the narrow corners of this 
tortuous channnel; the silence of the bordering forests broken 
alone by the sobs of our high-pressure engine, which is less 
expensive in construction, and enables a vessel to draw less water 
than a low pressure. Now and then a night bird, or frog 
croaking with a voice like that of a watchman's rattle, accompa- 
nied the bells and the escape valve. But human voices were 
awed into silence during our solemn progress, which seemed to me 
to belong neither to the sea nor the earth — it was, ifideed, a kind 
of amphibious proceeding. A downward steamer once passed us : I 
was glad we did not meet at one of the narrowest places, for there, 
I believe, they sometimes edge by one another, absolutely touching; 
but this navigation, however extraordinary, is considered peculiar- 
ly safe. The depth of water being so great and so still, it is 
difficult to understand how these bayous have been formed. 
They are deep trenches running up into the interior — Nature's 
canals — no streams, come in at the termination, and the water is 



ROUTE TO WASHINGTON. '293 

always salt or brackish. In two or three hours ai'ter our arrival 
at Houston, we were obliged to get into the mail for this place ; 
so, coming in the dark and setting out before daylight, I know 
little of Houston. It is said to be pretty, but must be flat, 
for soon after leaving it we entered upon prairies which ex- 
tended for fifty miles; fine grass and beautiful flowers, fertile 
though sandy plains. Once or twice, when we stopped to water 
the horses, I got out for a few minutes, and while the rest of the 
party dined, I rushed back to gather what I could ; but it was 
very tantalizing to me to pass all kinds of new plants without 
being able to possess myself of them. In the few opportunities 
afforded me, I got about twenty : one or two of genera, and the 
others of species, either unknown or little known in our gar- 
dens. 

It was ten o'clock last night before we reached Washington : 
the driver declared we must start again at three this morning, 
so I rebelled, and have let the mail proceed to Austn without 
us. I must give up that capital, however picturesque the scene- 
ry may be and content myself with visiting General Samuel 
Houston, af Independence, twelve miles farther than this place, 
and then turn back towards the Red River. It is useless to run 
through a greater extent of country without pausing long enough 
to see it ; and we must be back at New Orleans by the end of 
the month. The route here from the sea-shore is very thinly 
peopled — no towns, no villages ; and only an occasional settlement 
here and there, mostly Dutch. After leaving the prairies we 
came to a very pretty district, resembling English park scenery ; 
fine scattered trees and woods with the brightest and most luxu- 
riant verdure I have seen in America. At times the oaks and 
the sand reminded me of Kent ; but these oaks are not the same 
species as ours, yet are the Texans fine trees. The dwarf 'Black 
Jack ' is abundant all about. We passed the Brazo River in a 
ferx'y-boat, left for the convenience of the public, without a ferry- 
man. It was large enough to admit the coach and four horses, 
with the passengers, who got out, and a rope guided the whole 
0,crQss ^ quiet narrow river. During our passage the planet Ve- 



294 HORNED FROGS. 

nus appeared to hang like a diamond upon one of the horns of a 
young moon. They remained for a while in close proximity, 
but I do not believe they ever quite performed an eclipse. I 
think the planet appeared for some time in conjunction, hanging 
like a diamond on one of the moon's horns, which afterwards 
passed above, or Venus went below, whichever it might be. A 
fancy crossed my mind that this was a good omen, beautifully 
emblematic of the Star of Christianity, touching and rising over 
the Mahometan Crescent ; but I was obliged to get into the car- 
riage, and I could not then see the finale ; both had set before we 
reached Washington. As we came along, one of the gentleman 
passengers, at my request, caught a singular little reptile for me, 
which is here called the horned frog, but it has a tail, and is not 
more like a frog than the gelsemine is like jessamine. I shall try 
to reconcile it to live and become my fellow-traveller. 

Since I wrote the above, I have been spending two days at a 
small town called Independence, and there a boy gave me another 
of these creatures, which will be a companion to the first ; and I 
hope to get them safely to England, an offering to Mr. Owen. 
Yesterday they both eloped from a tin box ; so as nothing in the 
shape of a cage could be procured, I went to a store, bought a 
large metal sieve, and persuaded a carpenter to let it into a cir- 
cular piece of wood, grandly enough made of the cedar, which is 
used for common purposes in this country : the carpenter's shop 
was perfumed by its shavings. The sieve, with the sand at the 
bottom, is an airy and pleasant abode for my prisoners ; and I can 
watch their evolutions without difiiculty; they seem gentle, 
harmless little things, and being crustaceous, and not slippery- 
feeling, I have no objection to them. Their appearance is mos* 
antediluvian, with their fringes and horns, and birdy-expression 
of countenance. 

I spent two pleasant days at Independence, where I boarded 

R and myself in the clean, though simple abode of a Mr. and 

Mrs. Holmes ; he is building a house, in which he means to re- 
ceive boarders and travellers. In the meanwhile (although Mrs. 
Holmes was occupied with an infant only a fortnight old) he gave 



FOSSILIZED FOREST. 295 

up his own parlour — a canvas and boarded room, covered by a 
nice clean mat witli a door opening at once upon the high road; 
a couch for my bed, and muslin curtains — half crimson, half 
white — across the windows. This room was quite free from the 
odour of tobacco, and very neat. 

I called upon Mrs. Houston, and found that the General is 
absent at Huntsville ; but I was invited to take tea, and I spent 
the greater part of my time with Mrs. Houston and her pleasant 
family-party ; she was so kind as to lend me an excellent horse, 
by which means I saw much of the neighbourhood ; and this 
morning I rode twelve miles across the Awah Kiver and swamp, 
to seek for a fossilized forest and for fiowers. A gentleman ac- 
companied me who was an excellent backwoodsman and guide. 
We crossed the swamp and river, which would have been impas- 
sable during a less dry season ; and before long we saw a wolf, 
and a singular bird, called a water-turkey; it has a head and 
form resembling that bird, but it has also web feet, and such a 
power of remaining under water that it will dive for ten minutes 
at a time. AYe soon came to the petrified forest, which is said to 
be ten miles in extent. I found fine specimens of fossil-wood, 
whole trunks of trees, and large branches. The weight of a bul- 
lock-wagon passing along a track, had crushed one of these fossil 
trees, and I gathered up some specimens. All these stone trunks 
lie prostrate. Further on, three mocassin snakes lay basking 
upon some mud in the channel of a small river, below our path ; 
they looked venomous, though inert ; and I felt glad to be fairly 
out of their way. A pretty small pair of deer's horns had been 
dropped near a bush, and I persuaded my guide to pick them u.p, 
but he having no great liking for unnecessary trouble, hung them 
upon a tree, with an assurance that we must pass the same way in 
returning ; but he forgot this, and returned a mile to the right, 
so I lost them after all. Though the weather was sultry, and 
our ride tiring for the horses, they would not touch water at any 

of the lesser streams we crossed because (Mr. D said) wild 

beasts, such as panthers, wolves, and bears, had drunk there. 
We saw the tracks of such animals, but there is no danger of 



296 A LONELY SITUATION. 

meeting them, as they take care to get out of your way. The 
only beings who crossed our path during this long ride were a 
gentlemanly-looking boy, about twelve years old, accompanied by 
two negroes, all on horseback ; they were seeking horses which 
had strayed in the forest. We went as far as some ancient In- 
dian mounds ; and I found Phlox Drummondi, indigenous, upon 
a small sandy prairie ; in colour a dark ruby, very beautiful ; 
each plant was a small annual, not more than half a foot high, yet 
I conclude it is the original of all ours. We got back safely to 
Independence by three o'clock, having been on horseback since 
five in the morning, but I had been too well amused to think 
about fatigue. 

Huntsville^ April 22. — This is a pretty scattered town. We. 
left Independence yesterday evening, slept at Washington, and 
came on in the mail at three o'clock this morning. The Brazo 
was again to be crossed in a ferry-boat. A mile from thence 
one of the horses became ill, but after laying down almost 
immovable for a quarter of an hour, he got up and went twelve 
miles without any apparent difficulty. About half way we 
met General Houston on horseback, attended by his negro 
groom. Nearly all the country between Washington and this 
place is fine rich prairie land, interspersed with picturesque 
oaks ; it resembles Somersetshire, Kent, and Windsor Forest 
by turns ; the grass abundant, and beautifully green. We saw 
some deer ; and, at one place in the water again, two of those 
poisonous mocassin snakes ; I also heard of bears and panthers, 
and of a black snake, a kind of boa, ten feet long, which moves 
with great rapidity, and throws itself upon deer and cattle, and 
has been known (though rarely) to follow and attack people. 
We reached this place just before sunset. At a small log-house, 
in a lonely situation, a ladylike woman and her child, a girl about 
ten years old, got into the carriage. We were surprised to learn 
that, in the abscence of her son of seventeen, for college attend- 
ance, this lady lived entirely alone with her daughter ; she had 
learned to fire off a gun, in case of emergency, but she confesses 
that the alarm and uneasinees consequent upon her lonely life is 



CROCKET. 297 

more than she can bear much longer. The roads here are by no 
means bad ; we had a very comfortable coach, well-horsed, and 
well-driven, and there is really no difficulty whatever, except 
fatigue, in traversing this part of the country. 

Crocket^ Texas, April 24. — We left Huntsville by half-past 
six yesterday morning, and arrived here by moonlight early in 
the evening. With the exception of scenery at Trinity River 
(which we crossed, as usual, in a large ferry boat), the drive to- 
day (through deep sand, and in swampy places upon shifting 
corduroy roads) was monotonous and uninteresting : we had three 
companions in the mail, rough-looking, but courteous, well- 
informed men ; all of them Texan agriculturists ; one had served 
in Florida in the Seminole war, and had lived much among the 
Indians : another, a bright-looking young man, was returning to 
his farm and a father eighty years old, after two years' wandering 
upon the frontier line of Mexico, hunting and shooting. He had 
been among companions who could not persuade him to accompany 
them to California ; but he said a wild life had great charms for 
him, and that he should find it difficult to settle down at home. 
He thinks Texas the finest State in the Union, as it is the largest 
in point of extent ; and that railroads and more people are all it 
wants. We passed many cotton plantations during our journey 
to-day, and large numbers of cattle, apparently of the Holderness 
or the Durham breed. Dairies are little thought about ; it is 
cultivating beef, and oxen for draught, which is the object, not 
milk, cream, or butter. One hardly ever sees cream in America 
— never in this State. Upon arriving at an hotel, or rather 
tavern, in Texas, one is shown into a room where the mistress 
(usually very young) acknowledges the arrival of visitors, and 
offers a chair ; but it would be quite beneath her dignity to go 
with you to your room, or even to see that you have necessary 
comforts ; she ' will desire the servants to attend.' After a while 
a negro girl, or perhaps two or three, will show you a bed- 
chamber, and hang about to watch you and your packages; 
and it is usually necessary to scold or speak sharply before they 
will bestir themselves to ' fix the chamber ; ' and if you are not 
13* 



298 



ALEXANDRIA. 



careful to put your things out of the reach of curiosity, a bevy 
will assemble as soon as your bacli is turned, to amuse themselves 
with your cap, bonnet, or perhaps your combs and brushes. The 
' lady ' sits at the head of the table at tea or supper, but it seems 
quite an offence if you suppose she knows anything about the bill, 
or even respecting modes of travelling or distances : to any such 
inquiries she will say that ' You must ask at the o:Sce,' or ' In- 
quire of Mr. So-and-so — she knows nothing of such things.' So, 
though the blacks make good servants if they are strictly dis- 
ciplined and well watched, yet at these hotels they are careless 
and troublesome beyond measure. Tw^ice during this tour, when 
the night departure of the mails allowed passengers but an hour 
or two of rest, I was just asleep, v;hen a black woman would come 
screaming at the doors waking me, saying she wanted to come in 
to ' find the blacking-brush which is left under your bed, missus,' 
or to ' look for a quilt,' probably to use as a table-cloth, or it 
may be only an excuse to gain entrance. I positively refuse to 
let them in, but then I am completely aroused, and there is small 
chance of sleep afterwards. 

April 27. — On board the Rapid steamer. Red River, Alex- 
andria. — After our long fatiguing journey, we are fortunate in 
getting accommodation in this comfortable steamer, which will 
take us down the Red River to the Mississippi, and so back to 
New Orleans. 

Alexandria, Monday raorning. — I go back to say that we 
arrived at this place by moonlight, after four days and nights' 
hard travelling, but in coaches so good and so well appointed 
that, although the roads were very rough and dusty, we had no 
cause to be frightened, except in passing the loose plank bridges, 
most of them with no pretence of a rail to prevent vehicles and 
horses from going over the sides ; but we were assured that acci- 
dents are of rare occurrence, and these coaches have such fine 
horses, and such admirable drivers, that I never travelled at 
night with such confidence as through the wild forests and natural 
roads of Texas. As yet there is no other road-making than cutting 
down trees actually in the way, the stumps of which are often 



SNAKES. 299 

left a foot liigh, to be shunned by the driver and bi^rses, who learn 
from experience how to avoid them even in the dark. 

After Crocket, we left the more open country ; but all the 
way to Huntsville the soil is a red sand, with rolling hills covered 
by rich forests, but the timber is not so thickly set as to be drawn 
up without leaves or branches ; and we only occasionally passed 
through a pine barren. Natchitoches is a very pretty town ; 
the houses with nice gardens, and the drive through open woods, 
containing a great variety of trees, for some miles along a raised 
terrace, from which one sees a fine hilly country in every direc- 
tion, is very interesting, until you come to that which my fellow- 
travellers informed me was the most beautiful twenty miles of all, 
and then I was rather disappointed to find that its beauty con- 
sisted only in rich land, and fertile cotton, sugar, and maize 
fields. 

Upon reaching a bayou which falls into the Ked Eiver, we 
drove along the shore of its muddy slow stream — at present so 
low from the long drought, that it is like a great ugly ditch, with 
snake fences and acres of red flat fields on our left. I thought of 
the American who considered Salisbury Plain the most lovely 
district in England. Part of the former picturesque tract is dot- 
ted by cotton plantations and comfortable-looking abodes. We 
saw occasionally gangs of people at work in the fields, under a 
driver, but all seemed contented and merry. I pitied the over- 
seer, who sat idle upon his horse, and thought I should prefer 
being one of the labourers. The black women generally dislike 
being taken as house-servants ; they prefer the work and the 
more general society of the fields. We saw two mocassin snakes 
in the water — one large snake, which is only accused of eath^g 
up chickens, and another big enough to be a boa. 

Several rivers were crossed during the day : Angelina, Black 
Uiver, and Bayou Sabine. This would be a very favourable 
path for emigrants into Texas, as a hilly country is less liable to 
fevers, and the people would be more easily acclimated. A Mr. 
Hall, at New Orleans, is spoken of as an excellent adviser for 
new settlers. Such adventurers should arrive before December, 



300 BOTANIZING. 

come straiglit up the Red River from the Mississippi as far as 
Alexandria, from whence they would easily reach a favourable 
locality. A party of thirty emigrants, who could purchase about 
three hundred acres of ready cleared land for about 60Z., and 
divide it among them, would have a much better chance of imme- 
diate comfort and prosperity than any one individual taking the 
whole quantity ; and if there is a carpenter among them, he would 
be the most successful of all. I should much prefer settling in 
Texas to any other part of the Union I have seen, unless it was 
the Highlands of Virginia. There is certainly more chance of 
fevers in the South ; but if people come in the early part of the 
winter, and are not imprudent, they will be tolerably safe. Game 
abounds here, and fish in all the streams. 

I have at last ascertained what is meant by the Chinquapin — 
a nut which has been frequently mentioned, but till now I could 
never fit any tree to the name. It looks like a chestnut of a small 
delicate kind. I have discovered that it is the Castanea pumila. 
In a rich prairie, some miles beyond Independence, beyond the 
district called Atewa, I found a beautiful Phlox, of a rich velvety 
crimson. It may be that one described in Darby's Botany of the 
Southern States as ' pilosa,' or the original Drummondi, but I 
should call it crimson, not purple. It appears to be confined to 
the locality above named. I have not seen or heard of it any- 
where else. A few miles south of Independence, a beautiful 
bright sky-blue Ixia-looking flower, unlike any Sisyrinchium I 
ever saw, though I think it must be one. Texas can hardly yet 
have been thoroughly botanized, so that it is not impossible for 
me to fall in with new plants. I brought the two little Crusta- 
ceans on my lap all the way from Washington. They appear in 
good health, and tolerably well content with their sieve. I think 
that they must be examples in the reptile creation (as the family 
of Alligator Gars are among the fishes) of forms which are gen- 
erally by-gone. They occasionally accept a fiy as food, and I am 
told they will eat ants and ant-eggs, but, like tortoises, they seem 
very independent of meals, and quite as well content witliout as 
with them. Fear does not appear to seem a trait in their charac- 



RED RIVER. 301 

ter. They do not try to escape from my hands, or to suflfer from 
bemg taken hold of. Their little horns and bony excrescences 
are, I suppose, considered sufficient defence. They are the gen- 
tlest and least aggressive creatures I ever met with. 

We are hospitably sheltered on board the Rapid^ but she has 
engagements which will detain her here till to-morrow morning, 
so I must be content in the meanwhile to make acquaintance with 
mocking-birds, ' whip-poor-wills,' alligators and fireflies, all of 
which abound on the Red Eiver ; and I have also found one or 
two more flowers new to me, by walking on shore this afternoon. 
On the shore, too, I saw trails of snakes across a sandy path. 
One must have been very large ; but as we kept the road we 
were not afraid, for these reptiles generally get out of the way of 
intruders. 

April 28. — We began moving down the Red River, towards 
the Mississippi. The two days before, our steamer was occupied 
taking in freight — cotton, sugar, and molasses — and a large por- 
tion was put into a barge attached to the Sajndj to prevent her 
drawing too much water in passing a shallow. When that was 
accomplished, the additional cargo was shipped, and the barge left 
behind. Alligators were plentiful along the shore to-day ; pretty 
white cranes and occasional water-turkeys accompanied our pas- 
sage. A gentleman on board described a bird he had shot in the 
neighbourhood of Red River, which must resemble the Apteryx 
from Australia, to be seen in the Regent's Park Zoological Gar- 
dens, except that it is smaller. 

Before the junction with the Mississippi, the Red River opens 
out into what is called Old River, because it is believed to be an 
ancient bed of the Mississippi. We have now got into the main 
channel of the latter stream ; but its shores have not yet become 
flat and uninteresting, for we are still in the rolling country of 
red sand, from which the Red River derives its appellation and 
muddy complexion. 

April 30. — Just arrived by five o'clock at New Orleans, after 
a quiet and pleasant voyage. Nothing remarkable yesterday, 
except the town of Baton Rouge, which is prettily situated on 



302 SCARCITY OF WORKMEN. 

the banks of the river. It boasts of the State-house and a fort, 
and is considered the capital of Louisiana. I observe that the 
local governments generally hold their sittings at those places 
which in point of size are third-rate. There is a certain jealousy 
of influence of large cities, "which prevents them from being 
selected for legislative meetings. The Mississippi banks are much 
prettier about a hundred miles above New Orleans, where the 
chalky formation, which follows the alluvial, and precedes tho 
red sandstone rocks in all the Southern States and in Cuba, begins 
to rise above fiat plantations of cotton, maize, and sugar. 

After leaving the Ked Banks, I saw no more alligators, though 
I believe they are occasionally to be found below. We have been 
fortunate in a bright moon, which has almost turned night into 
day. I have seen no fossils either before or after the red sand iu 
Texas or Louisiana, but I daresay there may be some, as I have 
before found plenty of nummulites, echini, pectens, &c. I sup- 
pose all these formations are what the geologists call Eocene. I 
should like to speak of new chalk as distinguished fronl old chalk, 
for it seems pretty clear that they are made much after the same 
fashion, only the chalk of England is an elder brother, and has 
black flints and different fossils from the younger one, whose flints 
are brown ; but I suppose this proposition is very ungcological. 
A gentleman here has given me specimens found in sinking tho 
Artesian well in New Orleans ; and though it has been sunk 
nearly two hundred feet, still it produces only sea-sand, and 
broken or unbroken shells. The Mississippi appears to have 
travelled about a good deal in his time, and I should not wonder 
if some day he should take a fancy to join Lake Pontchartrain, 
and perhaps he may move across tlTe city of New Orleans. I 
have seldom time to read over what I write, and therefore my 
letters may contain repetitions ; if so, you must excuse them. 
All I saw of Slavery in Texas confirms previous conclusions. 
Workmen are so much wanted in that fine country, that it would 
seem impossible to abolish slave-labour, at any rate for many 
years to come : perhaps some Africans might be benefited and 
improved by being brought there. The old settled States are 



LETTER ON SLAVERY. 



803 



naturally unwilling to be troubled with fresh importations ; but 
I think Texan agriculturists might be willing to take charge of 
them. It seems to me that kind and good people I have known 
do not yet understand the real bearings of this Slavery question. 
I daresay in former times there were more abuses than at present : 
it is the slaveholders who come from the North who prove the 
least patient and most severe masters ; so I suppose abolitionists 
judge by what they know of them : of course there are much 
stronger ties of affection between masters and servants who have 
been born and bred together, than between those whose imme- 
dia,te tie has been only a pecuniary one. I must copy a letter 
which has been lent to me by a gentleman here, in answer to 
some inquiries addressed to sisters by cousins in London, after the 
perusal of Mrs. Stowe's novel. 

It is well written, and embodies the opinions and feelings of 
the great mass of masters and mistresses in the Slave States of 
America. 

* My dear Cousins, — 

' We render justice to the benevolent and philanthropic 
notions which have led you to write to us in deprecation of 
Slavery ; and though our lot, like the Patriarchs of old, is cast 
in a land of bond and free, we believe we may venture to as- 
sure you, that our human feelings and Christian sympathies 
have not been weakened or put aside. We must, however, ex- 
press our surprise that you, and your sober-minded, cool-judging 
country people, should have allowed yourselves to have been so 
much excited by a work of fiction, however skilfully wrought 
out, and that you should have been led to regard it as a true pic- 
ture of negro life in America. We have never either seen or 
heard of any such scenes as are depicted in the romance you rc- 
' fer to. How can we believe that such black saints and white 
demons have ever had existence, except in the excited imagina- 
tion of the authoress of Uncle Tom ? Slave-trading and slave- 
dealers are regarded with as much disgust liero as with you, and 
as to the rupture of the marriage tie, to which you aliudc, it is 



304 LETTER ON SLAVERY. 

the result (when it occasionally liappens) of misfortune to the 
owner, or of crime in the slave ; and in your country, separations 
of families are caused in a similar way. It is the exception, not 
the rule. We have read of such things in England, as men sell- 
ing their wives in a public market, with halters about their necks ; 
but surely it would not be just to charge such revolting practices 
upon the English nation. So far as we have had an opportunity 
of judging, there is much less, rather than mt)re, misery and dis- 
tress among our slaves than among your labourers : they are 
generally well-treated, happy, and content ; and certainly self- 
interest, if no other motive, must induce their owners to treat 
them well. Religion is cultivated among them, and in our Sun- 
day-schools classes of black children under a white teacher are 
common. In fact, one of us offered once to take such a class ; 
but the superintendent deemed her services more useful to the 
class she then had under instruction. Indeed, our sympathies 
are much more frequently and painfully excited by the misery we 
witness among the poor, ignorant, destitute emigrants who come 
to our shores from Europe ; many of them (it is said) shipped off 
by Union Workhouses to avoid the expense of their maintenance. 
' You must bear in mind, dear Cousins, that this Institution of 
Slavery was left to us by our fathers, and that England intro- 
duced it. One of the grievances charged upon her in the first 
Draft of the Declaration of Independence was this very institu- 
tion; and Great Britain only followed (after many years) the 
early act of our Government prohibiting the Slave-trade. At 
the period of the Revolution, Slavery prevailed in nearly all the 
States of the Union : in a few years it was abolished by seven of 
them, and but for the ill-judged agitation of the North, it would 
ere this have been done away with in Maryland, Virginia, and 
Kentucky ; and in view of these facts, may not the subject of 
emancipation be safely trusted to the moral feelings and intelli- 
gence of those whose business and duty it is to deal with it ? 
The evil (if evil it is) is so engrafted upon our social system, that 
to get rid of it without producing greater evil, which would affect 
the servant even more than the master, the cure must be worked 
ou*: cautiously and gradually. 



FIREFLIES. S05 

*■ Emancipation is not always a boon, even to the robust and 
able slave ; but it would be a curse to the aged and infirm, and 
to the helpless children. At the cost of twenty millions sterling 
you have brought ruin and ultimate desolation upon your West 
Indian Colonies: they stand as a warning rather than an ex- 
ample to our country. We are under the guidance and protec- 
tion of Divine Providence ; and the way in which, by his infinite 
power and goodness, great ends are attained, is generally beyond 
our finite comprehension ; — for ourselves, we are willing to be- 
lieve that this apparent evil of Slavery is a means conducive to 
a great and merciful end. Compare the Christianized and civil- 
ized American negro, with the brutal, idolatrous, polygamist 
African nations, and you will find the former advanced far above 
the latter in the scale of humanity. 

' Our countrymen are civilizing and Christianizing three or 
four millions of negroes, who will eventually return to Africa to 
civilize and Christianize the whole negro race. Is not this a great 
and good result, and will not the end sanctify the means ? ' 

The letter further dwells upon the mischief which is done by 
an ill-judging interference, and concludes by reminding us that 
we have social evils of our own to attend to and to cure. 

New Orleans^ May 1. — I returned here to breakfast yester- 
day ; and in the evening Mr. and Mrs. G took me to see tho 

garden belonging to a railroad station at six miles' distance. 
There I saw a very pretty Peruvian shrub, with lilac flowers, 
which the Irish gardener called ' Darbyana integrifolia.' I can- 
not say if the name is a legitimate one, because he appeared very 
hap-hazard in his nomenclature ; and as there are few people to 
interfere with it, I suspect he sometimes invents an appellation 
when he is doubtful about one. Koses, Oleanders, and Honey- 
suckles bloom here with a brilliancy and in an abundance beyond 
anything I ever beheld in Europe ; and last night the fireflies, 
sparkling in every direction as we returned home, were very 
pretty. They are brighter than our glow-worm ; but as their 
wings are opaque, they shine only in flying, and their flights are 



306 EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT. 

SO transient, that they appear and vanish just like sparks, but 
the light resembles the light from diamonds rather than sparks of 
fire. I am told they are still more numerous after rain ; but the 
mosquitoes increase also — therefore I should not wish to double 
the number of either. 

There have been some serious burglaries and robberies lately 
in New Orleans. A black man entered a house not far from this 
a few nights ago ; being disturbed, he attempted to leap from the 
window ; a gentleman within seized his hand, and tried to detain 
him in a hanging position, until assistance came. "With the arm 
left at liberty, the robber drew out a revolver and shot his captor, 
who was obliged to let him go. The wounded man is recovering, 
but a bullet in his face is yet unextracted. 

Although this robber was a black man, the police in England 
and France being now so well organized, it is believed that many 
of the more desperate characters have taken refuge in the United 
States ; either this, or the want of a strong detective force, has 
caused a great increase of criminal acts in America. 

On Thursday, the 4th, I propose to leave this place for Mo- 
bile; then to proceed, vici the Tensaw Kiver, by Montgomery 
and Atlanta, to see the Stone Mountain of Georgia, and Chata- 
nooga, in my way to Nashville and the Mammoth Cave. 

Great anxiety is expressed here for rain ; the drought has 
now been of long continuance, for the single day's rain which ac- 
companied a thunderstorm on the 4th seems to have been very 
partial, and almost confined to New Orleans. The cotton growers 
beo-in to despair, and all the crops are sufi'ering so much, that a 
famine is predicted if relief does not come soon; and, as the 
houses here look to their great tuns or cisterns of rainwater for 
their principal supply, the absence of wet weather is a great dis- 
tress to New Orleans ; besides which, steamers also are delayed 
or stopped by want of water in rivers tributary to the Mississippi. 

May 2. — There was a total eclipse of the moon last night, 
finer than anything of the kind I ever saw before. The obscura- 
tion began from the southern limb soon after eight o'clock, and 
the moon was not bright again till midnight ; for one hour and 



A SHOWER OF RAIIT. 307 

forty-eight minutes she looked like a dark orange, much smaller 
than usual ; but she was visible throughout, except after she be- 
gan to brighten up again, when a few clouds passed over, and ren- 
dered her invisible for a short time. The wise and anxious hope 
for rain after this event. My horned frogs (for so I must call 
them till a better name is provided) excite great interest ; although 
they are not entirely unknown to people here, nobody can say 
whether any living specimens have been sent to England. I 
wished to show them to Dr. Kiddell, but he is gone up to Chatawa 
with his family, and he is not likely to return till after my de- 
parture. A heavy shower of rain has fallen this afternoon, and 
it is hoped that more will follow. An opportunity occurring, I 
shall close this letter, and probably not forward another packet 
till I reach Cincinnati or Indianapolis. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



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LETTER XXY. 



Atlanta, Alabama, U. S., ) 
May 7, 1855. | 

My dear Friends, — 

After five days' hard travelling, we got here this evening — ^I 
should say five days and three nights ; for with the exception of 
one night's rest at Mobile, and one (till five this morning) at Mont- 
gomery, since leaving New Orleans, on Thursday last, we have 
never paused an hour anywhere. Night-work is the only serious 
obstacle to journeying in America : it is very fatiguing, and where 
there is a pretty country to pass through, very disappointing to 
strangers ; both in Texas and Alabama this evil at present is in- 
corrigible ; because, through wide districts, there are no places to 
pause at, and the mail being the only means of conveyance, of 
course it cannot be detained for any one. I might have attempted 
to get up the Alabama River from Mobile, but the water being 
low, there was considerable risk of grounding for some days upon 
sandbanks ; besides which, I see more of the country and of the 
vegetation by coach-travelling ; and although it is often very tan- 
talizing to pass by trees, and shrubs, and flowers, either new or 
rare, without being able to get at them, still it is something to 
observe the botanical features of a district ; and by taking every 
opportunity, during a change of horses or a stop for meals, I have 
secured several interesting specimens, and sometimes get a sketch. 
From New Orleans a steamer brought us in about fourteen hours 



STREET ARCHITECTURE. 309 

to Mobile : that town is prettily situated along the bay ; it seems 
a pleasant place of residence, with a hotel (Battle House), the 
best managed I have met with in the United States ; for usually, 
with a great deal of show, these places are conducted upon so 
little system, and with so little real comfort, that I much prefer 
European inns to the most gorgeous American hotels; and in 
point of expense, the latter equal, if they do not exceed, the former. 
Government-street in Mobile is also the handsomest street I have 
seen anywhere : it consists of detached houses with gardens ; some 
have the usual fault in this country of being whitened to a daz- 
zling and unnatural whiteness ; but a custom-house is in process of 
erection, with granite of a. soft grey colour, and it seems likely to 
be an example of good architecture, as well as of pleasing tint. 
An agreeable family (to whom I was introduced by my frieiid Mr. 

W , of Baltimore) made me profit as much as possible by the 

few hours I was able to stay at Mobile : they chose a pretty drive, 
and I was enabled to visit the first interesting nursery-garden I 
have met with; there I saw Cactus triangularis, with hanging 
roots. I was told that a gentleman at Cincinnati had the best 
collection of cacti.* Next day, Saturday, a steamer received us 
on board, and leaving Mobile Bay, we went up the river Tensaw, 
a stream beautiful as the Altamaha, and bordered by woods far 
exceeding those of Georgia: live oaks, catalpas, magnolias (as 
large as elms), just come into blow; the macrophylla with its 
flower still sweeter and more splendid than the grandiflora, melias, 
gleditzchias, cedars, sweet and black gum-trees, &o., with huge 
alligators occasionally basking beneath these verdant shores, and 
elegant birds flying above them. 

At Stockport we found two roomy four-horse coaches waiting 

for passengers : five gentlemen, R , and I took possession of 

one intended to hold nine inside, which would have been close 
packing ; so we were fortunate in not being quite as much cramped 
as we might have been. Nearly the whole two hundred miles 
to this place is deep sand, varying from white to red; at first, 

♦ Since destroyed by fire. 



310 MONTGOMERY. 

through pine barrens like those of Florida, only covering a rolling 
countr}^ instead of a fiat one ; but within fifty miles of Montgom- 
ery the forest becomes as Tarious, and as rich, and as hilly, as that 
of the eastern part of Texas, and much resembling it in character 
and in soil — a red iron-sand. At one of the little post-houses I 
got a nodule of iron ore, which they said was plentiful in the 
neighbourhood. By midnight we arrived at Montgomery, a clean- 
looking, gas-lit town, of which I could not see a great deal, for it 
was necessary to be in the railroad cars by six the next morning. 
A short distance from Montgomery the line was bordered on each 
side by hedges of Cherokee roses, vivid evergreens with single 
white blossoms, and the foliage so thick that it is said not even a 
snake can get through it : then we went by the prettiest scenery 
of all — passing the rivers Coosa and Tallapoosa, and near the 
spot where Greneral Jackson fought his ' Battle of the Horseshoe' 
with the Cherokees and Choctaws. One of my poor little horny, 
crusty reptiles is dead, in spite of all the care I could bestow upon 
him. I fear the other will not survive the long journey in pros- 
pect ; perhaps it would be better that these creatures should travel 
at the usual season of their torpidity ; now, the sun makes them 
too much inclined for an active life, and they evidently think it 
necessary to eat files, whereas, in the winter season, that would 
not be requisite. 

To-morrow, I am going some miles out of my route to see 
what is called the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Atlanta (so spel- 
led here) is a town about eight years old, though there was a set- 
tlement and two or three houses as much as fifteen years ago. 
During my last passage in the steamer from Mobile, a black woman 
came and sat down by me in the stern of the vessel. From what 
we hear in England, I imagined negroes were kept at a distance. 
That is the case in the Northern States, but in the South they 
are at your elbow everywhere, and always seek conversation. This 
was an old nurse, an aunty, or mammy, as they are sometimes 
called (all ancient women of the darky kind here are addressed as 
aunties). She was very communicative, told me she had a young 
mistress in Texas (sisters have sometimes a common property in 



AN AUiNTY. 311 

slaves left by their parents) ; that she was very fond of this master 
and mistress, and she ran on as follows — ' But there 'tis hard to 
be divided from t'other ; but then people must have their 'flictions 
in this world. Y/hen I was a young girl, there, I used sometimes 
to fancy 'twould be a fine thing to be free ; but, there, I don't 
now think 'twould be mighty fine at all ; there, I have everything 
I want in the wide world, 'cept jewellery, and that I don't want 
at all now, and, there (some of the coloured people have such a 
lot of jewellery you can't think) ; I say, Cissy, now (addressing 
one of her charges) don't go for to tumble over there ; now if you 
gets into the water, we sha'n't have you a bit more, and then your 
poor old aunty will die of it — that she will — and won't see her no 
more. I say, missus, I don't let master keep my children up o' 
nights as some of their papas and mammas do : I says, ' Master, it 
sha'n't be, it sha'n't — it isn't fit for they little ones as ought to be 
in their beds;' and so my children have got colours in their faces, 
that they does.' I asked her what she thought of slaves being 
free here : her reply was, ' I say, missus, it does 'em no good, nor 
any one else. If people has a fancy to make 'em free, send 'em 
to Africa, the place they comed from, I say. Why, missus, these 
free niggers are half their time bad niggers ; and they does insult 
they niggers as keeps to their own masters and mistresses, and 
are mighty better and happier too, and that makes 'em mad to 
see. It is not right, missus, by the 'spectable slaves to have them 
there free niggers, with their jewellery, and their flowers, and 
their 'bacco, and their drink, idling about saucy and idle, it gives 
the dark people a bad 'kracter ; and I say, missus, it isn't right. 
Send 'em away, I «ay, and then they may go and sit in the sun 
and do nothing, just as the half of them do.' So she ran on in a 
stream of talk, all much to the same purpose. One question to 
set these people off is generally enough to have the benefit of all 
their thoughts ; but it is better to keep one's own opinions in the 
background, for they are so imitative, they will often reflect you 
if they can. The day before yesterday, I heard of an intelligent 
negro just freed by his master, after thirty-six years' good service. 
He was fifteen when brought over, remembered his native tongue, 



312 STONE MOUNTAIN. 

and intends to return to Africa. He strongly expresses his grat- 
itude for having been brought over to America, and says, * Master, 
don't you let white masters and mistresses hurt the Slavery In- 
stitution. I say, Master, it be Good Almighty's school for the 
coloured people it be, that He have made. Why, Massa, what 
would such a man as me have been without the slave merchant ? 
How should me have got a bit of education as me have ? And 
now go and try to give a bit to the race out there, who would a 
bring us over ? I say. Master, we should ha' been worse than 
slaves, but for the Slavery Institution that brought us here to 
know how to work, and to hear about the good Almighty, and to 
know about what we should never have known in our own coun- 
try. No, Massa, don't hurt the Slave Institution.' What would 
Mrs. Stowe say to this Uncle Tom ? for he is the nearest to Uncle 
Tom of any negro I have heard of, and he will make a capital 
African missionary. 

Chattanooga, May 9. — The day before yesterday I went six- 
teen miles on the Augusta railroad to see the ' Stone Mountain,' 
which was in all respects more singular and curious than I ex- 
pected. There is a comfortable little hotel in the small village 
called from the hill ' Stone Mountain.' * Mr. Clarke, the intelli- 
gent master, was so obliging as to drive me himself in a little 
wagon to that side from which the most interesting view is to be 
obtained. You must imagine an enormous granite bolster laid 
upon a deep valley, coming as straight as the side of a house 
down eleven hundred feet, then rounded towards the top five 
hundred feet more, smooth, and without vegetation, excepting 
at one spot towards the western summit, where numbers of grey 
eagles are to be seen. Granite pillars a quarter of a mile long 
could be hewn from its perpendicular sides. It is said to be le- 
gitimate granite, with brilliant brownish-looking mica in it ; but I 
have got specimens for geologists to decide upon. It is external- 
ly a dark grey colour. I crossed a small stream to the foot of 
the precipice. I know none, not even the Martenswald of the 

* Burned to the ground the night after I was there. 



AN OBLIGING LANDLORD. 313 

Tyrol, so gigantic — I should think that eagles alone could sur- 
mount it. A plummet, with the rope eleven hundred feet in 
length, has been dropped in a straight line from above the spot I 
stood upon, which resembled a beautiful English rock garden, 
bounded by fine trees, with thickets of Kalmia latifola in full 
bloom on one side, the mountain wall on the other. After pass- 
ing a stream and rising an eminence in a wood full of scarlet and 
])ink Azaleas, I came to acres of tabular granite, from whence I 
attempted a sketch of the gigantic stony pillar before me. A 
photograph might give a true picture, but any pencil must be in- 
competent. I found Asplenium alpinum in fissures at the base 
of the precipice, but no other vegetation. The flowering shrubs 
are plentiful around, but I saw few smaller plants in blow ; and 
my guide told me the earlier months in spring are most favour- 
able here for such things. He was the first American I have 
met with (except Botanical Professors) who takes an interest in 
flowers. He gathered a large bouquet of Azaleas, Kalmias, Vac- 
cinniums, &c., and thanked me for having been the means of 
bringing him to the rock garden, which he had never visited 
before when the Kalmias were in bloom ; though he had a great 
pleasure (he said) in wandering alone about the mountain ; ' but 
then I cf)uld never have persuaded my ladies to come to such a 
place as this.' We had to scramble across a stream and over the 
rocks, certainly ; but I would have walked barefoot through the 
waters rather than have missed the scene. I do not wonder that 
American ladies in the mass look dispirited and ' sick' (the word 
generally used in the United States for ill), they take so little 
exercise, and lose the best enjoyments of life in their neglect of 
natural beauty for artificial pleasures ; and no wonder they are 
victims of consumption and ennui. I returned to the hotel for 
dinner and an hour's rest, then took a young negro boy for my 
guide, and walked half way up the mountain, so as to sketch it 
from near the eagle's ' cairn ' (as it would be called in Scotland). 
The descent was hot and fatiguing, but I got back in good time 
for the half-past four o'clock train, and our obliging landlord 
went to Atlanta by the same cars, and took great charge of me. 
14 



314 A JUVENILE COACHMAN. 

He expressed a strong -wish to visit England, and it would give 
me pleasure to pay him any attention there in return for a kind- 
ness and courtesy not by any means common among the masters 
and mistresses of hotels in America, who generally consider it 
rather derogatory to show personal civility to their customers. 

May 9. — By a quarter-past four in the morning we left the 
Atlanta, and travelled here through a fine country, only settled 
within the last twenty years. All the stations are small villages. 
I find Chattanooga a pretty scattered town on the banks of the 
Tennessee Eiver, within five miles of ' Look-out Mountain.' In 
twenty years more it will acquire the population, as well as the 
name of a city, here given by anticipation. I procured a carriage 
at half-past two o'clock, to convey me to the top of ' Look-out.' 
I ascended by a beautiful drive through rocks and wood. I 
walked up some particularly steep places, and added two pretty 
new flowers to my collection — a crimson Lychnis and a pale lilac 
Geranium ; but through all this country flowers are scarce. I see 
only shrubs — ^junipers, cedars, &c. — which excite my wishes in 
going along by the cars. 

Upon reaching what is called ' the Point,' a view of Chatta- 
nooga and Tennessee River, flov/ing through mighty forests, was 
very fine. This hill is a strong contrast to the Stone Mountain ; 
not so unique in any way, but still fine. Sandstone rocks were 
heaped upon one another like some of those at our Tunbridge 
Wells, though this formation must be much older; and I saw 
some conglomerate of quartz and sand. After making a sketch, 
my very young coachman (a boy not more than fifteen) drove his 
two spirited horses with great tact and caution down the rough 
descent. 

We passed two or three slight summer residences, built by 
gentlemen of Chattanooga, as cool resorts for their families in the 
hot season, and tliere is also an hotel on the mountain. I reached 
the town again happily before sunset, without any accident or dif- 
ficulty, though I had no one with me but my young driver. Be- 
ing tired, I went to rest, and slept for nine hours at once, to 
make up for lost time. 



AMERICAN ROMANCING. 315 

Nashville J 3fay 11. — It was dark when we reached this place, 
at half-past ten last night, so I missed the last thirty miles of 
scenery ; but certainly the previous one hundred and twenty we 
passed through is a most beautiful district. I never knew any 
territory belonging to the old red sandstone that was not beauti- 
ful. The neighbouring kingdoms of limestone and granite may 
be more majestic, but then they have sometimes an aspect of 
sternness and desolation never worn by the red sandstone. Here 
are all the beauties of Braemar and Ross-shire, and the Oden- 
wald, watered by a river almost equalling the Rhine in breadth, 
volume, and colour, to which must be added the rich and varied 
foliage of the south. This is what may be seen for more than a 
hundred miles between Nashville and Chattanooga. We passed 
viaducts over ravines, in which some fortunate settlers had estab- 
lished their log abodes in situations the most enviable ; and here 
there are no snakes and no malaria to take off from other advan- 
tages. I would willingly live in Tennessee. 

I am up early, and before going to breakfast, or being dis- 
tracted by thoughts derived from another fresh locality, I must 
give you the benefit of past observations ; and I want to remark 
as one of them, that the Americans must not be depended on for 
information as to facts regarding their own country, particularly 
not for any facts of natural science. They are not sufiiciently 
aware of the importance of such things, and their love of practical 
jokes is strong. I might instance the Floating Island in Lake 
Solitude^ which never had any existence but in the imagination 
of its inventors ; and I will tell you one story as exemplifying 
this Transatlantic habit. An old lady, who possessed more botan- 
iccil curiosity than is commonly met with among ladies in this coun- 
try, requested a sailor nephew, about to visit South America, to 

bring her a Mexican Cactus plant. Captain forgot his aunt's 

wish while in that country ; ashamed to confess his delinquency, 
and not being able to resist the temptation to have his joke at 
her expense, he procured a flower-pot, buried in it a large rat all 
but the tail (which he tied in gardener-like fashion to a stick), and 
wrote on a neat tally the name, ' Cactus RaUailiense.'^ When he 



316 ACniLLE MURAT. 

presented this, the old lady exclaimed, ' What a queer plant ! why 
is it called Rattailiense ? ' 

' Don't you see, my dear Aunt, it bears a strong resemblance 
to the tail of a rat ? ' 

' Well,' said she, ' that is very odd ; and it certainly smells 
something like a rat too.' 

The captain went off to sea again before his fraud was discov- 
ered, and trusted to the effect of time and absence to procure his 
forgiveness. 

I have heard some curious anecdotes of Achille Murat, who 
lived for some years in Florida. He was considered a man of tal- 
ent, but eccentric. After the present restoration of his family, 
some one said, ' Perhaps in due time we may again see you an 
exile in this country.' 

' No,' said he, ' never. Now they have again accepted us in 
France, we shall cut their throats, or they must cut ours.' 

Having once made a few thousand dollars by a speculation, he 
presented his wife with a magnificent tea-service, at a time when 
she could hardly provide necessaries ; and this was owing to his 
strong faith in the ' Future ' of his race. After his return to 
France, when he had arranged an expensive establishment, a per- 
son to whom he owed seven thousand dollars applied for repay- 
ment, which Achille said was impossible. 

' I thought,' said his creditor, ' that living as you do now, you 
could find no difficulty.' 

' Why,' answered the Prince, ' it is true I have sufficient to 
keep up my situation, but I have not enough to pay my debts.' 

I believe, however, he has since liquidated them. 

Since Louis Napoleon became Emperor, he has presented a 
complete set of the 'H. B.' caricatures to the library at Albany, 
New York State. 

I think these stories are genuine ; but I have seldom given 
credence to second-hand information. I should only have be- 
lieved Captain Rollin's own account of his sea-serpent, and if that 
calm observant sailor has fallen into the fashion of this country 



MRS. POLK. 317 

of imposing falsely-strung yarns upon strangers, I must give up all 
confidence in the veracity of American informants. 

Three Forks, Kentuchy. — After a fatiguing journey (nine in- 
side passengers in the mail coach) we reached this place at eleven 
o'clock last night, setting off at five in the morning ; and it is 
rather an unpleasant consideration, that after visiting the Mam- 
moth Cave, seven miles from hence, we must take the mail again 
to-morrow night, and proceed on towards Louisville at the same 
hour we disembarked from that conveyance here. These inevi- 
table night journeys are what I dislike most in American travel. 
I have fallen in with a gentleman and lady who are shortly 
going to England. They are so obliging as to take charge of this 
packet ; I shall therefore put off telling you what I think of the 
Mammoth Cave till my next letter, and only add that I found 
Nashville a pleasant town. It is watered by the Cumberland, a 
river which floats steamers, but it is much inferior to the Tennes- 
see both in size and colour. A very handsome State-house, or 
Capitol, is nearly completed at Nashville. Well situated upon a 
hill, it is the best architectural building for its purpose I have yet 
seen in the States. The style is Ionic : eight pillars support the 
pediment, upon each of the four sides, and the lantern above the 
roof is ornamented by octagonal slabs to match. This lantern 
being unfinished, one cannot perfectly imagine its general effect ; but, 
judging from the good taste evinced by the architect, Mr. Strick- 
land, (an Englishman, I imderstand,) in his plan, it is probable 
that the completion of this building will be worthy of its com- 
mencement. Its material is the beautifully coloured grey lime- 
stone of Kentucky. I had the pleasure of making acquaintance 
with Mrs. Polk, widow of President Polk, whose burial-place and 
monument are in the garden upon one side of her residence. It 
is a handsome but simple erection, bearing an inscription worthy 
of the man whose life and death it records ; and I sympathized 
with feelings which do not shrink from the sight of the last me- 
morials of valued friends who have preceded us. I had not time 
to see much of the neighbourhood of Nashville, but I met a few 
agreeable people there ; and could have made a pretty sketch 



318 NASHVILLE. 

from the Suspension Bridge, if the departure of the mail on alter- 
nate days only had not prevented me from staying a few hours 
longer. In haste, 

Your affectionate 

A. M. M. 

Three Forks, Kentucky, 

May 1% 1855. 



LETTEE XXYL 



Mammoth Cavk, 
May 14, 1855. 



My dear Friends, — 

The Mammoth Cave is not the wonder I expected. Per- 
haps my expectations were raised too high, and so, as is some- 
times the case, I do not fairly appreciate what has been con- 
sidered secondary only to the Falls of Niagara; but^ in my 
opinion, the Stone Mountain of Georgia is a greater marvel of 
nature than the caves of Kentucky. 

Underground rivers are by no means rare : they are very nu- 
merous in Florida ; and the Mammoth Cave is evidently the 
deserted bed of ancient streams. In some places it resembles 
gigantic drains, of which one of the most curious features is the 
regular, smooth, plastered-looking roof and sides. I have seen no 
elegant stalactite pillars like those of the Adelberg Cave in 
Carniola. The caverns here are heavy-looking, dark and dismal; 
but there are some gigantic pits and domes, frightful from their 
height and depth. The stalactite altar, in what is called the 
Gothic Chapel, and a comfortable arm-chair of the same material, 
were the most interesting things I saw. There are casts of fossils 
on the walls of what is here called oolitic rock, a fine emericite 
in one place. I see also at the hotel fossil wood of the coal for- 
mations, which were procured about seven miles off, but not from 
any of the Caves. On the whole, I was more interested by plants 
at the mouth of the cavern than by our five miles' walk within ; 



320 TREATMENT OF TRAVELLERS. 

and to-morrow I sliall probably ramble above ground, instead of 
beneath it. 1 found Podophyllum peltatum in flower for the first 
time ; a singularly pretty, one-flowering, bluisb-grey Aster,* and 
other novelties. 

Several people came with us in a stage-coach from Three 
Forks, and it is to convey us back to-morrow afternoon, in time 
to rest before the mail takes us on. 

Three Forks, or ' Bells' (as I find they call this place, to 
which we returned this afternoon, May 14th). Instead of the 
coach taking us on, as promised at Nashville (where they per- 
suaded me to pay for the whole distance to Louisville), it arrived 
here loaded, and we are detained till passengers may happen to be 
scarce. This is the kind of treatment travellers are subjected to. 
It is impossible to place any dependence upon the assurances of 
agents ; when they have got your money, they will, without com- 
punction, leave you in the lurch. The lady and gentleman who 
have taken their passage to England for the 23rd are in the same 
predicament, and are of course still more inconvenienced. In- 
stead of underground investigations this morning, I botanized in 
the Avoods above the Mammoth Cave, and found many interesting 
plants, particularly a pretty dwarf Iris, quite new to me ; Pha- 
celia fimbriata, with ivy-shaped leaves, and fine specimens of 
Botrychium Virginicum, and other ferns in fruit. I walked as 
far as Green liiver, and made a sketch there : it is well named, 
for the waters look solidly green. This river falls into the Ohio, 
and by going, down it, and then up the Cumberland, there is a 
water communication with Nashville ; but now the rivers are so 
low this is not practicable. All the party, excepting myself, en- 
, tered the Cave this morning at eight o'clock, and did not emerge 
again till six in the afternoon. They admired some of the cav- 
erns much more than those we saw yesterday, and tell me that 
the imitations of flowers and forms of various kinds in the snowy 
gypsum are very beautiful ; but the expedition was tedious and 

* I suppose this to be ' Aster grandiflorus,' though Darby's Bolamj says 
that plant flowers in Octobci", and that it is two or three i'eet, this is not cue 
foot, high. 



MOCKING-BIRDS. 321 

fatiguing, and I do not repent my decision against it. No eyeless 
fisli were to be procured — the water was too low ; thoTigh they 
are the great curiosity of the place. The preserved specimens I 
ha,ve seen have rudiments or marks where eyes should be, and I 
suppose that the organ has perished in process of time, from want 
of use, many generations one after another having existed and 
died in the dark. I have seen two species, a kind of perch and a 
crayfish.* Stephen, the guide who accompanied us, is a mulatto 
of great intelligence: he is at present a slave, but is to .have his 
freedom next year, and then goes to Liberia with his wife and 
family (he would not wish to be free in this country) ; and it is 
to be feared that when beyond control, a certain propensity for 
strong waters will be his destruction. His appearance is that of 
a good-looking Spaniard ; he is considered much the best guide, 
and he has not only acquired a perfect knowledge of the locality 
of the Cave, but also some degree of scientific acquaintance with 
its geological and chemical productions : besides which, he seems 
to have read and studied the history of other places of the same 
nature, as far as he has been able to procure books. 

I am inclined to believe that nearly all the district was tun- 
neled or undermined by water, which the lapse of ages has dried 
up, or drained off by numerous rivers. The caverns I saw in 
Cuba were probably owing to rather different circumstances, in 
which volcanic action played a larger part. The Cueva del Can- 
dela was an extensive opening above the plain in the side of a 
hill, whereas these Kentucky Caves are all below the surround- 
ing country. 

Six o'clock, Hay 15. — I have been awakened by the singing 
of the mocking-birds in a small orchard close to the English- 
looking garden here : there is a tame one in a cage downstairs, 
who sings unceasingly, and I suppose he attracts all the birds of 
the neighbourhood: at night their song resembles our nightin- 
gale ; this morning it is exactly like that of canaries. Although 
my wanderings in the woods yesterday lasted some hours, I did 

* I have now got the latter. 
14* 



322 EVENTUALITIES. 

not feel apprehensive of snakes : one of the guides told me before 
I set out, that although there are rattlesnakes, and some other 
kinds occasionally here, yet, in his opinion, the popular fear of 
them is much greater than necessary : that they always get out 
of your way if possible, and he has himself often walked over 
them, without danger ; they never wound unless driven to it in 
self-defence. There are many pigs, too, in the woods above the 
Mammoth Cave, and they are perfect snake scavengers, eating up 
all they can rout out or fall in with. I saw the tail of something 
darting into a hole, but could not be sure whether it was snake 
or lizard ; besides this, I caught sight of no animal but a frog, 
with large eyes. After I had been out five hours, one of the 
negroes came to look after me, and I was glad to make over my 
flower-press for him to carry back ; I liad a sketch-book, a bam- 
boo stick, and a tin case (none of the smallest) ; and those often 
obliged me to go twice over the same ground, because I could not 
carry them all at once ; and yet it was a much greater enjoyment 
to be without an attendant who would have hurried me, and look 
bored, if he did not express himself so. The negroes, too, watch 
your every motion with such eager curiosity, and will hardly let 
you stir without their help. My friend was very loth to go ; he 
tried to persuade me that it might rain, or blow some of the trees 
down upon me ; but I said I was not afraid, and that if it rained 
very hard, he might bring out an umbrella to a spring near, to 
which I meant to find my way ; so at last he left me to my own 
inventions, and no difl&culties occurred. I returned to the hotel 
by half-past three o'clock. Immediately after the Cave hunters 
came back, we were summoned to get into the coach ; for the road 
being bad, we had to walk up and down some of the hills, and to 
arrive again at our starting-place before dusk. After tea there, 
we went to rest, preparatory to our expected night journey, and 
we were packed and ready, when we were told it was impossible 
we could be taken on; so we were obliged to reconcile ourselves 
to twenty-four hours' pause. Next morning, I was agreeably sur- 
prised to find my Anglo-American friend. Miss G had ar- 
rived with a party to proceed to the Cave, so that my detention 



A NEGRO BEAUTY. 823 

enabled us to meet. My Hortus Siccus also will benefit much by 
the time I was able to bestow upon it, and a walk in the forest 
surrounding this place was the means of my adding a singular 
fern to my collection ; excepting that fern, I did not find much 
that I had not already put into my press at the Mammoth Cave ; 
a brilliant orange Coreopsis, probably one of those we already 
have in our gardens, is common in these woods, which are sprin- 
kled all about with rocks, but none of large dimensions. 

Louisville^ May, 17. — At ten o'clock the night before last we 
got into a crammed coach at Three Forks ; nine inside, two of 
•whom were negro women ; also a black baby — and such a fright- 
ful specimen of black nature as one of these slave women was ! — 
her mouth just like a catfish ; and then so sulky mannered and 
unaccommodating; she took her own share of the room, and 
added to it as much as she could possibly steal from her neigh- 
bours. Talk of white freedom ! why I never saw women of the 
white classes in England as independent and assuming in manner 
as some of these darkies. I can imagine what they must be in 
the West Indies, since we have given them free scope there ! 

Yesterday afternoon the rain poured down in torrents, a great 
boon to this parched country, though it did not make our tedious 
journey more pleasant ; the way to Louisville was through open 
woods and fields and glades, which would have been English in 
character, if the everlasting and ugly snake fences had not kept 
us constantly in mind of America. We ferried over the Salt Ri- 
ver just at its junction with the Ohio, having before travelled 
along one of its beautiful shores, and then we passed through 
Elizabethville, and Nolinn's Creek ; so called from a hunter of the 
name of Linn. In the early times of the settlement his party 
having lost their companion in the forests, separated to seek him, 
and having given their rendezvous at this spot, each man as they 
cauie in called out No Linn; this was the origin of the name. 
Louisville is a large city on the banks of the Ohio ; it has no very 
attractive features, and as we must proceed by rail to Cincinnati 
at eight o'clock this morning, I shall not have time to see much 
here. There is a heavy ugly Court-house, in an unfinished dila- 



324 



CINCINNATI. 



pidated-looking state, aud the streets are ill-paved ; I understand 
the population mounts up to fifty thousand, and this hotel was so 
crowded, that if it had not been for my accommodating English 
friends who gave up a room they had engaged, we should have 
been obliged to seek beds elsewhere. 

Gincimiatij May 17. — We crossed the Ohio River this morn- 
ing by a ferry-boat at eight o'clock, to start from the railway 
station, which has the most roomy and comfortable cars I have yet 
met with in America. We reached this place, one hundred and 
twenty miles from Louisville, by three o'clock, passing by a series 
of picturesque low-wooded hills, which are called the Knobs of Ohio. 
President Harrison's tomb is on one of these elevations, near a 
pretty town named Aurora. Kentucky is on the opposite side of 
the river. We are now in Ohio, which bears the appellation of 
the Buckeye State. Nearly every State and each chief city has 
what may be called a local designation, and some of these are 
extremely appropriate : I will give you a list of those I have 
ascertained : — 



New York, Empire State . 
Massachusetts, Bay State . 
Philadelphia, Key State 
Kentucky, Corncracker State 
Indiana, 'Hoosier'* State . 
Illinois, Sucker State . 
Virginia, Old Dominion 
South Carolina, Palmetto State 
Missouri, Wolverine State . 
California, Gold State 
Georgia, Rice State . 
Louisiana, French State 
Florida, Shell State 



Empire City. 
Bay City. 
Quaker City. 
Pittsburg, Smoky City. 
Cleveland, Forest City. 
Wheeling, Bridge City. 
Cincinnati, Queen City. 
Saint Louis, Mound City. 
Louisville, Falls City. 
Galena, Garden City. 
Memphis, Bluff City. 
New Orleans, Crescent City. 
Indianapolis, Railroad City. 



May 18. — Soon after reaching Chicinnati yesterday afternoon, 
I set oif in the hope of seeing Mr. Longworth's Cacti ; but, unfor- 
tunately, the green-house, with everything in it, was destroyed by 



* Madame Pfeiffer mistook Governor Wright^ when she giive, from his 
authority, another derivation for the word ' Hoosier.' It originated iu a 



A GENERIC TERM. 



325 



fire, about three years ago ; and it is an exemplification of Trans- 
atlantic indifference to such things, that a loss of the finest col- 
lection of Cacti in the United States, and perhaps in the world, 
does not appear to have been known except to those immediately 
concerned. I found nothing very new in the glass houses be- 
longing to Mr. Longworth ; but in one of them the Victoria Eegia 
was in flower ; and there is an intelligent young Scotchman as 
gardener. Mr. Longworth's residence, though in the town, is 
large ; and within the grounds, on either side, he has erected 
other handsome houses, for two sons-in-law. Mr. Longworth was 
away from home, but Mr. Anderson, who married one of his daugh- 
ters, was so obliging as to show me the first works of Power — one a 
charming ideal bust, entitled Genevra, and the other a bust of 
his patron, considered very good ; it reminded me of Seneca. 

The agriculturists were blessed by much rain yesterday. We 
are now come far enough north to feel a change of climate ; and 
an advantage to me will be the getting away from a species of tick, 
which was the torment of my Southern walks. The insect is as 
large as that, which in England is rarely named to ears polite, 
though here it is the usual designation of every creeping thing. 
This tick is so insidious in its approaches, that you are not made 
sensible of having one upon you till it has fastened itself tightly into 
your skin. After botanizing in the neighbourhood of the Mam- 
moth Cave, I felt tormented during our night journey to Louis- 
ville ; and upon arriving there, R extracted twenty-five of 

the little wretches ; they are very tenacious of life ; and, if the 
head is left behind, greater irritation ensues ; but the sufi'ering 
to me has not been greater than that caused by the sting of a 
mosquito. These and cactus spines are two great hindrances to 
botanical researches in the Southern States. 

Cincinnati is handsomer and more attractive than Louisville, 
and worthy of its distinctive name, ' Queen City.' Geologically, 
the formations which surround it are singular. I believe they 

settler's exclaiming ' Huzza,' upon gaining the victory over a marauding 
party Irom a neighbouring State. 



326 FUTURE OF CINCINNATI. 

belong to the Devonian group, or rather the Lower Silurian; 
but there is limestone resembling in colour and appearance 
(though not in fossils) what is called ' forest marble' in England ; 
it lies in flat strata about a foot, or half a foot in thickness, alter- 
nating with clay ; and, in some places, I observed both indurated 
together into a striped rock, dark and light grey. I have got a 
few specimens, with fossils, Trilobites, Orthises, &c. ; and very 
large Trilobites are found here. 

Mr. Mitchell, the astronomer, took me up to Lis Observatory, 
situated upon a commanding elevation overlooking the town and 
winding Ohio. This will one day be a gigantic city ; already her 
population amounts to two hundred thousand. The emporium 
of the Western States, Cincinnati is both commercial and manu- 
facturing. Her citizens have built, and are building, palaces; 
and, if the first settlers could but have imagined the future of 
the great capital they were founding, instead of rooting up and 
burning down the trees on the numerous heights, and then par- 
titioning them out in small lots for building, they would have 
preserved them, or some of them, in their forest attire, in public 
parks and gardens for their city, which, by this time, must have 
been the Queen of the States, in beauty of scenery as well as 
in situation. Professor Mitchell tried to explain his wonderful 
astronomical instruments to my unmechanical comprehension. I 
can only see that he has made great discoveries. By means of a 
galvanic battery, he produces an electric spark each second, in 
the interior of a clock, by which he works his whole observing 
machinery above. Through this agent he has superseded the old 
transit-glass ; and the exact situation of stars is instantaneously 
jotted down by a mere finger-touch from the observer, upon a 
connecting rod. I do not know whether this is a clear explana- 
tion, for though I understand the commencement and conclusion 
of the operation, I have not sufiicient knowledge to trace it 
through all its mysterious doings. The Professor himself drove 
me up and down some of the terrific hills of this precipice town ; 
he and his pretty little horses and light high-wheeled carriage 
seemed so used to the business, that I did not insist uj. n jump- 



DR. JOHNSON ON SLAVERY. 327 

ing out, otherwise I should have been very unwilling to have 
been driven by the very edge of descents which it makes me now 
giddy to think of. A mizzling rain forced us to give up a pro- 
posed drive into the surrounding country ; and I was obliged to 
be content with cursory views of the principal streets; after 
which Mr. Mitchell took me to his house to drink tea and spend 
the evening with Mrs. Mitchell and his family. 

Saturday^ May 19. — This afternoon I go on by rail to 
Indianapolis, I have now taken leave of the Southern States, 
but I must make some more remarks upon the Slavery question. 
Louisville and Cincinnati are places in which, I believe, Mrs. 
Stowe once resided ; and I quote an opinion she advances in her 
last work which proves her entire ignorance of negro constitution 
and habits. She asserts that Canada is the best locality ' to de- 
velope the energies of the black race.' Before saying this, it 
would have been well if she had studied the condition of the free 
negroes in Canada. The very climate itself is utterly unsuited 
to them. Mrs. Stowe quotes, as mistaken and absurd, the sensible 
remarks in Boswell's Life of Johnson respecting negro slavery, 
which I must re-quote as wise and true : ' To abolish a status 
which in all ages God has sanctioned and man has continued, 
would not only be robbing a numerous class of our fellow-sub- 
jects, but it would be extreme cruelty to the African savages, a 
portion of whom it saves from worse bondage in their own coun- 
try, and introduces into a much happier state of life ; especially 
when their passage to the West Indies and their tre^ment there 
is humanely regulated. To abolish the trade would be to shut 
the gates of mercy on mankind.' And I must add this : the 
opinions I have heard from intelligent slaves coincide with those 
here quoted. Because some slave-mauacles were seen by Clark- 
son in a Liverpool shop, he decided at once upon the inhumanity 
of slavery — so says Mrs. Stowe. Tyrannical men and women in 
Great Britain have actually starved apprentices to death — is 
apprenticeship therefore murder ? I trust no Englishwoman can 
be found willing to briug such an accusation against her people. 
Let us imagine two brothers in this country engaged in trade : 



328 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING. 

one buys a plantation, witli two hundred negroes, to raise cotton, 
on the Mississippi — the other sets up a mill to spin cotton, at 
Cincinnati. Trade is bad with the elder : he must raise or buy 
corn and clothes to feed and clothe his labourers. Trade is 
tight with the other: he dismisses his work-people, who may 
starve or perish, and there is no law which can make him respon- 
sible for their sufferings. I will conclude this subject with one 
more anecdote, for the truth of which I can vouch. A Southern 
lady and gentleman brought a mulatto slave to Cincinnati, who 
there fell in with some abolitionists, and was imbued with a feel- 
ing of discontent. Her master and mistress observing this, pro- 
ceeded to New York, where they told the girl that they did not 
wish to retain a servant against her will, and giving her twenty 
dollars, they added, ' Take this money and your freedom.' The 
girl took it, and went out. She entered a theatre, and was told 
' she must go to the entrance for coloured people.' In a church 
she is ordered to sit with the blacks. Trying for a place in an 
omnibus, the driver says it is no place for her. She hurried 
back to her mistress to return the money, and entreated she 
might be taken or sent back to that South ' where black people 
are free.' 

Indianapolis, May 19. — We reached Indianapolis soon after 
the evening closed in. As hours are early in this part of the 
world, I determined to go to an hotel for the night, so as not 
to intrude on my friends at an inconvenient time. This was 
acquiesced f^ by Governor Wright, who visited me soon after my 
arrival. 

May 20. — The Governor came early, and took me to his 
house. At half-past ten o'clock we went to the Episcopal church, 
where the duty was admirably done by a Mr. Talbot, originally 
from Kentucky, who preached a sermon, good in matter as in 
manner. Dinner was at one o'clock, and at two I accompanied 
the Governor to visit two large Sunday-schools, belonging to dif- 
ferent denominations. There are about fifteen in this town. 
They have each a superintendent; and young men and women of 
the various churches in the place give them assistance. In Eng- 



AN EXPECTANT MILLENARIAN. 329 

land we might take example by the wisdom here which limits 
Sunday-school attendance to one hour, and leaves the place and 
period of Divine worship to be regulated by the parents. If the 
teaching at school is not such as to induce the children to go 
willingly to church, a forced going will not benefit their religious 
feelings; and too often the fatigued, bored appearance of Sab- 
bath-school children in our churches, is a sad commentary upon 
the want of judgment evinced by the British public in this mat- 
ter. The Sunday is kept at Indianapolis with Presbyterian 
strictness. No trains start, letters do not go, nor are they re- 
ceived, so that a father, mother, husband, or wife may be in ex- 
tremity, and have no means of communicating their farewells or 
last wishes if Sunday intervenes. Surely this is making man 
subordinate to the Sabbath — not the Sabbath to man. I have 
been amused at a story told me of an inhabitant of this place. 
The Millenarian doctrine has been rife here ; all through America 
fanatics have lately spread an idea that sublunary matters were 
to close yesterday, May 19. A man not usually inclined to in- 
temperate habits, called at a store as the day waned, and requested 
a mug of porter to support his spirits through the expected catas- 
trophe. Time wore on — still the elements looked calm. ' It 
wont be over yet awhile ; I must have another glass. 'Tis very 
depressing to have to wait so long ; give me some drink.' This 
continued till the poor frightened soul became dead drunk ; and 
he was much surprised next morning to find the world going on 
much as usual — with the exception of his aching head. 

May 21. — Grovernor "Wright invited me to accompany him in 
a morning walk at sunrise — four o'clock. I had some letters to 
write previously, but by five we perambulated parts of the town, 
which is peculiarly laid out; the Court, or rather Government- 
house being in the centre (and it is said also the centre of the 
Union ; but that can only be a temporary centre, for this place 
lies eastward of the middle of the continent) ; and all the streets 
converging towards it. 

I occupied this morning in arranging my dried specimens of 
plants, which occasionally require attention. We dined at one 



330 DEMOCRACY AND DESPOTISM. 

o'clock, and Mrs. Wright, at present an invalid, Y7as sufficiently 
recovered to join ns at table. After dinner I was happy to see 
Judge Maclean, whom I knew at Washington ; he is come to hold 
a court ; and Governor Powell, of Kentucky, is also expected to- 
morrow. The Governor took Mr. Maclean and me a drive to see 
the Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb, and for the Blind of this 
State. They are both fine institutions, paid for by the people 
through special taxes, imposed for the purpose, and paid ungrudg- 
ingly. They have sufficient ground attached for out-of-door oc- 
cupations and exercise. The deaf and dumb make shoes and 
bonnets, farm, &c., so as to acquire a knowledge which enables 
them to gain their future livelihood : and the girls are taught to 
be sempstresses, washerwomen, cooks, &c. Such charities should 
always be situated in the country ; town life cuts off the most 
necessary and advantageous means of trainiug the inmates to 
healthful and useful pursuits. 

From the cupola of the Asylum for the Blind the view is wide. 
These extensive plains of the West extend one thousand miles in 
the direction of Canada, and as far towards the Bocky Mountains. 
There is one height or bluff about fifteen miles off, which I must 
go and look at. Indiana produces freestone, coal, and iron. The 
Wabash about sixty miles from hence, is the most considerable 
river. Before we left the asylum, some of the blind pupils sang 
quartettes and duets, accompanied by one of their number on the 
piano. They sang in tune and with good taste. 

I have heard much of Democracy and Equality since I came 
to the United States, and I ha,ve seen more evidences of Aristoc- 
racy and Despotism than it has before been my fortune to meet 
with. The ' Know-nothings,' and the ' Abolitionists,' and the 
' Mormonites ' are, in my opinion, consequent upon the mammonite, 
extravagant pretensions and habits which are really fashionable 
among Pseudo-Republicans. Two hundred thousand starving 
Irish have come to this country, and in their ignorance they as- 
sume the airs of that equality which they have been induced to 
believe is really belonging to American society. They endeavour 
to reduce to practice the sentiment so popular here — but no — that 



GOVERNOR WRIGHT. . 331 

will never do. Ladies don't like their helps to say they * choose 
to sit in the parlour, or they won't help them at all, for equality 
is the rule here.' Mrs. So-and-so of the ' Codfish ' Aristocracy 
doesn't like to have Lady Anything to take precedence of her ; 
but Betty choosing to play at equality is quite another thing ' 
Now at Indianapolis I have found something like consistency, for 
the first time since I came this side the Atlantic. I do not as- 
sert there is equality, for the simple reason that it is not in 
nature ; and (as Lord Tavistock once so well said), ' the love of 
liberty is virtue, but the love of equality is pride ;' but here, the 
Governor of the State is a man of small income ; his salary is only 
fifteen hundred dollars : he has really put aside money-making, 
and his son, an amiable young man, instead of wasting his time in 
rioting and drunkenness (which, alas ! is too much the case with 
the sons of the ' Aristocracy ' in the United States), keeps a store 
to make his own fortune, and, as he nobly said yesterday, to pro- 
vide for that father who has disdained to sacrifice his country to 
himself. Governor Wright did not think it a degradation to 
carry a basket when I accompanied him to the market this morning, 
and his whole demeanour is that of a consistent Republican. I 
do not care what a man's political creed may be (though I much 
prefer the monarchical principles of old England), but I do admire 
consistency ; and I consider the ' Know-nothing ' movement as a 
consequence of uncertain principles. 

May 22. — This day Governor Powell of Kentucky came on a 
visit here. He was in Canada two years since, and he spoke with 
admiration of Lord Elgin, and of his manner of conducting the 
afi"airs of that Colony. The heat has suddenly become intense; 
to my feelings as hot as any day we had in Cuba. At last I con- 
clude that winter has really given up our company, after returning 
to it so frequently, that I feel as if I had passed three winters and 
three summers in America. 

May 28. — I went at five o'clock this morning to the Eastern 
market-place, where I first saw squirrels sold like rabbits for the 
table ready skinned. When dressed, they are exactly like young 
chickens. I believe it is the grey squirrel. This evening the 



332 A governor's levee. 

Governor had what is now in the States universally called a levde , 
after the same fashion as the President's receptions. Governors 
of individual States occasionally open their doors to all the citi- 
zens who choose to attend, and it is considered a compliment to 
stranger guests like the Governor of Kentucky and myself, that 
the attendance should he good; so the rooms here were filled. 
The Governor and his lady do not receive their visitors, but we all 
went into the room after they had assembled. No refreshments 
are expected on these occasions, but every one shakes hands upon 
being introduced. The assemblage was very respectable and 
orderly; it concluded about eleven o'clock, having begun at 
nine. 

May 24. — I went to see a Devonshire man and his wife, who 
have a vineyard : they have been settled here twenty years, and 
are natives of Dartmouth ; they look back to the old country with 
regret, and think they might have done as well there as here ; 
though they have a cottage with an acre of ground their own 
property, and a married son and daughter doing well, but poor 
people. Their youngest boy is an inmate of the Indiana Lunatic 

xVsylum. Mrs. N was brought up in the family of the lady 

who nursed the Duchess of Gloucester, and remembers helping to 
make a cradle for the Princess Amelia. She was much delighted 

to find that I knew Miss A . We spoke much of England ; I 

told her she was now adopted by this country, and that with her 
family here, it was wrong to hanker so much after that of her 
birth. 

Mr. N buries his vines in the ground, as soon as the wood 

has hardened, during the cold months of the year. I wonder 
whether this plan would make the vine more prolific in the open 
air with us. 

Mrs. Wright gave an evening party of invited acquaintances ; 
a great many agreeable people from this and the adjoining State. 
One lady sang some of Moore's Melodies very sweetly ; but, as 
yet, music is not much cultivated in America ; either the ladies do 
not devote sufiicient attention to it, or there are not good masters. 
This is almost the first time I have heard an American sing with 



THE BLUFFS OF THE WHITE RIVER. 333 

taste and expression. This party did not conclude before mid- 
night. 

I have spoken of the Stone Mountain to gentlemen, engineers, 
professors, and military men ; but the gigantic precipice, and the 
curious geological facts of that elevation seem quite unknown to 
any of them ; as yet they do not appear to have attracted the 
notice of scientific men. I imagine that the tabular masses spread 
upon the rising ground on the opposite side of the valley beneath 
the precipitous wall, must be the debris of that part of the moun- 
tain which fell away upon the upheavement of the mass in an 
almost fluid state — at least this is the idea suggested by its ap- 
pearance. I hope some one more able to understand it than I 
am, will visit the place, and decide how far my supposition is 
probable. 

I am told the thermometer stood at ninety-two degrees in the 
shade the day before yesterday, and the weather continues very 
hot, but there is now rather more air. Last night a naval gen- 
tleman told me that part of an iron fastening belonging to a ship 
had been found half embedded in a mass of iron, which had been 
supposed an aerolite, lying on a prairie in this country. From 
this fact a very modern origin for the locality is deduced, because 
it is concluded that a mass of the kind in question must originally 
have been left by an iceberg. I mention this as it was named to 
me, without pretending to decide upon the truth of the matter. 

Thursday Mrs. "Wright gave an invited reception, with a 
standing supper. All went off well, and I saw the principal peo- 
ple of Indianapolis. Next morning I drove with a young lady to 
see what are called the Bluffs of the White lliver, sixteen miles, 
distance. I was surprised to find that the road there was by no 
means what we should call Vi plain, it was rather a series of continu- 
ed low elevations, and many short bat steep hills mark the road. 
It passes through a pretty country, bordered by farms, and watered 
by small streams, making their way to the White River, which 
attended our drive within a short distance. ' The Bluff' proved 
to be a rather higher hill than others, overlooking the river, and 
thickly timbered, but without a rock of any kind. I found the 



834 ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY. 

large leaved blood-wort, the may apple, and a pretty red coliimbiiie^ 

growing plentifully in soil formed by tbe dead leaves of a thousand 
autumns. The inmates of a pretty farm near at hand gave us hos- 
pitality and a share of their dinner, while our coachman acted as 
guide, and entered into my botanical researches with great interest. 
We made our way over the hill down to the river bank, where we 
saw the laborious but useless works for the formation of a canal, 
entered into by the State at an out lay of hundreds of thousands of 
dollars just before railways were put into action, and abandoned 
in consequence. The small town of Waverley is situated a mile 
beyond the hill we came to visit. Our drive home was a chilly 
one. The thermometer has again descended below 50°. These 
sudden changes from intense heat to cold are much greater than 
those we have in England. 

Saturday and Sunday were very cold, with slight showers. It 
is supposed much rain has fallen in other parts of the State ; a 
most acceptable conclusion of the long drought, which has excited 
much alarm for the fate of the crops. There are two well con- 
ducted newspapers in this town, but they fall into the same error 
(which is almost general in the press through the States), that of 
attacking the institutions and the character of the Parent State, 
in a tone both virulent and unjust ; and this, I am sorry to say, 
is not so much the practice of native Americans as of editors 
born in England ; even those whose parents look back with love 
and veneration to the country they have left ; and, in one instance, 
though their son is a powerful, a moral, and usually a conscien- 
tious writer, yet is his pen dipped in the gall of bitterness when- 
ever it approaches subjects which touch upon Great Britain. He 
forgets, or in his ignorance he does not know, when echoing vul- 
gar abuse of the Old Land and the English aristocracy, that, as 
a whole, they give an example of energy in action, and simplicity 
in manner, which might well be copied here. British distinctions 
are not derived solely from mammon, therefore mammon is not 
the sole god of their idolatry. Individuals are not valued and 
judged in England (as is too generally the case in America) by 
the satin they may have upon their backs, or the dollars that 



THE PRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 335 

chink in their pockets ; but each individual, in fact, is appreciated 
according to his intrinsic qualities. Those who know the old 
country best will admit that the influence attached to respective 
grades of society is lost by those whose habits are unworthy ; 
while, on the other side, men like Hugh Miller, and others who 
could be pointed out, are not precluded from the highest distinc- 
tions if they earn them. Yet such paragraphs as these have been 
going the round of the United States' papers : — ' The meanest 
aristocracy is that of birth ; it ignores intellect, energy, courage, 
and good deeds ; it demoralizes Government, defeats armies, and 
disgraces manhood. If there were no aristocracy of birth in 
England, great men would have risen from the ranks to lead the 
British army in triumph', &c., &c., &c. Do these Democrats not 
know that the English people have no wish to see their army, like 
that of France, the chief aristocracy of the land ? I should be 
sorry if the time came when the sword alone should be permitted 
to hew its way to the principal distinctions of England. Now, a 
man may rise more easily in the law, the church, the literary, or 
even the artistic path, than in that of the soldier. Let our youDg 
men of fortune still buy their commissions, and place themselves 
under strict discipline, and then occasionally, by succession, a 
poor man derives the benefit ; but never let the brave aspiring 
English peasant know that his strong arm and great heart are the 
means by which he may most easily acquire a marshal's baton, a 
ducal coronet, for then a military despotism may one of these 
days supplant the freest Constitution in the world. The press of 
the United States is fond of calling names : ' British Flunkeyism,' 
* Mock Emperor,' ' Mock Representation.' Americans have 
chosen their forms of Government — the best, probably, for a 
young rising people. Let them be content with their own, with- 
out abusing that of their mother land ; but there are signs in the 
horizon which foretell that their Government may not stand the 
test of centuries. I copy from American papers, that ' Judge 
C , for several years occupying the position of Associate- 
Judge, and having held other offices of honor and profit as an old 
and influential citizen of Harding County, has been arrested 



BRIBERY. 



for counterfeiting ! ' And these prohibitory liquor-laws, which 
the local legislatures have been so busy in enacting ! What 
would be thought in England of legislators who now drink more 
liquor ' than was drank by that legislature who passed the pro- 
hibitory law.' 

The Temperance Legislature of New York, while on a visit 
to that city, got on a ' drunken spree, and broke up in a row ! ' 
Of course, in these remarks I am not alluding to the intelligent 
and really distinguished men of America, — men who have crossed 
the Atlantic, and made themselves acquainted with English insti- 
tutions and English manners. No people are more fond of titles 
than Americans when they can get hold of them. ' Grenerals ' and 
' Judges ' and ' Colonels ' are plentiful as blackberries. Mere 
boys assume these appellations often without much claim to them ; 
and every member of Congress expects to be addressed in society 
as ' Honourable.' Our members of Parliament are satisfied to 
be so designated in the House itself, but do not claim the title 
out of doors. Yet, I should be sorry to hear even a suspicion 
attached to the name of any individual belonging to our legisla- 
tive bodies, of such gross derelictions from duty and honesty as 
are not uncommon among the ' Honourable ' members of the 
United States Congress. 

Washington is a very sink of corruption. Those who know 
the place cannot deny that a large proportion of the gentlemen 
(and ladies, too,) assembled there at one period of the year are 
open to bribery, and that Bills to put the almighty dollars into 
certain pockets, have been got through by the aid of establish- 
ments open to certain people, liberally supplied with liquors and 
gaming tables, and that when people have lost money, purses 
have been at their disposal, of course with the understanding that 
their votes went in the right direction. Can anything of political 
profligacy be raked out of the faults of the old country to match 
this ? or can the worst inventions of the English press equal the 
assertion, that John Bull publicly rejoiced over the death of the 
Czar, and that the British arc a ' nation of brutes?' No indi- 
vidual or people can claim the merit of perfectibility, and I 



CONCLUSION. 837 

ehould not point out the blots in the American escutcheon if they 
were not inclined to be too busy in falsely bespattering those of 
their neighbours. 

An electric despatch invites me to attend the wedding of two 
young friends at Albany, and particular circumstances make this 
invitation imperative. So for the present, at any rate, I must 
give up my intended visit to the Prairies of Ohio and Illinois. 
By taking the early train to-morrow, I can reach New York State 
in time, and allow for a few hours' visit to Dr. Kirtland, at Cleve- 
land who has been ill, and cannot meet me as he proposed to do. 
I close this packet here, and let it go by the first opportunity. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 

Indianapolis, May 27. 

P.S. — This rambling epistle is hastily sent off, and I will 
write again from Albany. 
15 



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^^ "^ jr ^ j? ^^ ^ J^^ ^^ ^^ ^=^ ^^ ^--^ ^^ ^.^ 

'^O ^.o ^..o ^..o -^.o ^.o ^.o ^o ^.o ^..o ^o o^ 



LETTER XXYIL 



Albany, May 18, 1865. 

My dear Friends, — 

I left Indianapolis early on Monday last, slept at Cleveland, 
and spent a few hours with Dr. Kirtland at Rock Point, which 
hours I cut off the time necessary for my journey by travelling 
all night. I hope this will be my last night's work during the 
remainder of my stay in America, for it is a very disagreeable 
business. The wedding of my young American friends will take 
place to-morrow, and then I shall be able to decide whether 
there is any chance of my being able to accomplish the tours in 
the Adirondack and the Prairies which were planned last year. 

May 31. — While at breakfast yesterday morning, I received 
an invitation from the two Bishops of Pennsylvania and New 
York to accompany them to the consecration of a new church at 
Troy. Miss P was so obliging as to come for me. We fol- 
lowed a beautiful line of railway for about an hour. In the so- 
ciety of two of the most distinguished and excellent men in the 
United States, I enjoyed this drive. The little Gothic church is 
almost perfect in style and taste, and although strictly architec- 
tural externally, as well as internally, it is original in design. 
Every seat was occupied, and a finer sermon than that preached 
by the Bishop of Pennsylvania, for such an occasion, I never 
heard — equally good in matter as in manner. There were seve- 
ral clergy who took part in the service. We had the Hundredth 
Psalm congregationally sung, and the Halleluja Chorus well 



TICONDEROGA. 339 

played ; if a theatrical kind of anthem had not been inserted 
between them, the music would have been as satisfactory as the 
other arrangements, excepting that the service was rather too 
long. We afterwards lunched at the house of Mr. and Mrs. 

T , and did not get back to Albany till six in the afternoon. 

The wedding ceremony, which took place about nine o'clock the 
same evening, was performed by the Bishop of Pennsylvania, in 
the presence of a large party. This is the fifth marriage I have 
attended in America. I cannot resist a kind proposal of the 
Bishop's, that I should accompany him and Mrs. Potter through 
a visitation tour in some of the most beautiful parts of his dio- 
cese. I shall join them in Philadelphia the 6th instant. 
"Whether the Adirondack and the Prairies will also be com- 
prised, I cannot yet tell. Letters await me at New York. I 
have had so few from home these last three months that I am 
very anxious. I was roused by a great noise made by men in 
the house at three o'clock this morning. Americans do not seem 
to have the least idea of considering the comfort or the slumbers 
of other travellers in an hotel, if it please them to make an up- 
roar during the night. I heard corks drawing, and as the Maine 
law has been introduced into Albany since Mr. Seymour's gov- 
ernment, I suppose that day abstinence is made up for by night 
jollity. 

Albany^ June 4. — I have been resting and preparing for a 

fresh start the 6th, I shall leave R with friends here, and 

be quite independent of all but my episcopal guides, for Bishop 
Potter has engaged to give me over to the care of his brother of 
New York, somewhere on the borders of Lake Champlain, the last 
week of this month. I wish to see Ticonderoga, where my 
mother's father, G-eneral Grant, took the 42d Highlanders (a 
regiment he first raised) into battle eight hundred strong and 
came out two hundred ! — a Balaclava in its way. The sermon of 
the Scotch previously is worth recording : ' My lads, I hae nae 
time for lang preachments, a' I hae to say is, nae cowards gae to 
Heaven ; and if ye dinna kill them they'll kill you.' I visited 
Dr. and Mrs. H 's pretty cottage, and dined with Mr. and 



340 GIRARD COLLEGE. 

Mrs. Hall, the evening before I left Albany to join the Bishop 
and Mrs. Potter at Philadelphia. 

June 6. — I set out at five o'clock in the morning, and reached 
New York about half-past nine. I remained at the St. Nicholas 
hotel till six in the evening, and saw there Governor Seymour 
and Sir Charles Grey, who soon returns to England. By the 
mail train, after a disagreeable journey, owing to tipsy rowdies 
being in the same cars, I reached the Pier House, Philadelphia, 
at half-past nine o'clock. This town looks to much greater ad- 
vantage, now the trees which border the streets are in leaf. 
After walking about all the morning, weather damp and showery, 
so violent a thunder-storm came on in the afternoon, rain pour- 
ing down in spouts, and from one house the water falling from 
the rough tiles in so heavy a cascade, that it seemed as if a river 
had suddenly burst from the skies. I never saw rain in Europe 
like this. 

June 8. — Mr. S was so obliging as to take me to the 

Kensington end of Philadelphia to call upon Mrs. R , a 

Quaker lady, to whom I was introduced at Washington, but she 
was on a tour in Kentucky. In this quarter of the town I saw 
a simple monument, erected on the spot where William Penn 
made his compact with the Indians. ' The only treaty ever 
made without oaths, and the only one which was never violated.' 

The local Government have purchased ground to make an 
open square here. We afterwards visited Mr. Girard's College 
for the nurture and education of boys, without reference to the 
religious persuasions of their parents. I understand the children 
are religiously and morally brought up, but a particular clause in 
the will forbids the entrance of any clergyman into the building. 
It is a fine erection ; the pediment supports gigantic Corinthian 
columns, the roof being entirely marble ; such was the weight, 
that rows of parallel brick arches were erected, a few feet only 
apart from the supports. I went to the top. It is made for 
eternity, and is a magnificent specimen of architectural skill. 
Inmates may bo received from New Orleans as well as Philadel- 
phia, because the former was the first port to which the founder 



A COAL DISTRICT. 841 

had a venture ; bis trade was principally with China, and it was 
in Philadelphia his fortune (the whole of which is devoted to this 
College) was made. He left directions in an elaborate will, that 
all articles of household furniture, and even his wearing apparel, 
should be preserved ; the latter, books, china, &c., are in glass 
cases. If the same funds had been left for educational purposes, 
there would have been less glorification of the founder, but 
greater results. 

Afterwards I went to the Museum, where there is one of the 
finest ornithological collections in the world, fossils, and a most 
curious collection of shells, upon which an elaborate work, enti- 
tled Types of Mankind, was founded. I understand the book 
is written in a scoffing and ofi'ensive style, attacking the Bible 
under the influence of strong prejudice ; but that it contains val- 
uable facts : a habit among religious people of making the truth 
of the sacred Scriptures to depend upon their own narrow views, 
has but too frequently arrayed the discoveries of science, and the 
visible works of the Creator, in opposition to that written word 
with which (properly understood) they never have been, and 
never can be, otherwise than in accordance. 

At the Reading Station I joined the Bishop and Mrs. P , 

with their party of travellers ; in all seven ; among them a lady 
and gentleman with whom I dined at Baltimore. The railroad 
crosses and recrosses the river Schuylkill, a pretty course, until 
we arrived at the hotel at Mount Carbon, near Pottsville, a pic- 
turesque situation. I was out at six o'clock next morning to put 
a recollection into my sketch-book ; after breakfast we all went on 
delightful railway excursions in a small car belouging to the di- 
rectors, up to the first coal mines of this mining country, through 
which the Bishop is making his visitation. Nothing could be 
more interesting than its geological features, particularly to a 
person but little acquainted with the history of coal. It lies very 
near the surface in extensive basins — an anthracite of the most 
brilliant exterior, which, after being created, has apparently (for 
the purpose of rendering it more accessible) been heaved up and 
dislocated by the protrusion from beneath of conglomerate rocks 



342 TRAVELLING BY GRAVITATIOIN. 

thrown up in strata, sometimes perfectly vertical. This opera- 
tion has been repeated over and over again through the district 
we are visiting, with overwhelming evidence of design. 

In the shale above, we found the usual carboniferous fossils, 
and below red sandstone. All this goes on through Pottsville, 
Tuscarora, Tamaqua, and to Summit, one of the highest situa- 
tions, where we slept the second night. From thence, early on 
Sunday morning, we whirled down an inclined plane by gravity 
alone, about nine miles, in a little open car, to Mauch Chunk 
(fat bear in the Indian language), a " place set deep among the 
hills by the rapid dashing Lehigh, reminding me of Schalenbad, 
near Frankfort, in Germany, but much more beautiful. Instead 
of wood slides down the mountain, here the locomotives rise up, 
dragging long trains of coal waggons on ascents a mile and a half 
long, with a rise of fifteen hundred feet. We mounted the high- 
est, and descended by curves and gravity a distance of sixteen 
miles. I was ashamed to shrink from the excursion ; but I must 
confess that terror and anxiety mastered enjoyment with me, the 
whole proceeding was so novel and terrific. Long practice must 
be necessary to convince a mind of its security. I heard Bishop 
Potter catechise the children in church, concisely, but most efi'ect- 
ively ; and after morning service, and an excellent sermon, he 
confirmed a lady and gentleman of mature age. Baptisms and 
confirmations of grown up people are common in this country. 
The episcopal church is increasing rapidly, and at this place 
(Scranton), from which I now write, where the English and 
Welsh miners are numerous, I am told the people evince 
great attachment to it. The general afi"ection for their bishop, 
and his worthiness, must tend much to strengthen this feeling. 

We remained two days a Wilkesbarre, a town on the Susque- 
hanna Eiver, in the Valley of Wyoming ; coal-fields surrounding 
it in every direction, and, as at Manchester, descending planes of 
railroads carrying off the produce on one side, water carriage 
taking it away the other, and the neighbourhood so beautiful that 
volumes of sketches might be made here. We visited a valley 
about two miles distant, where coal excavations, now deserted by 



GEOLOGICAL RICHES. 843 

the Baltimore company, resemble the openings of Egyptian tombs, 
and the entrances going straight into the mountain, are like vast 
halls supported by massive pillars of coal. I think there are 
more English settled in these mining districts of Pennsylvania 
than in any part of the United States I have visited — more born 
English, I mean. I have before seen hordes of Irish, but Eng- 
lish sparely scattered ; here the Irish are in the minority. Those 
I have talked with say they are physically comfortable, and they 
do not dislike their new country ; but they still prefer the old 
one — they do not think that practically there is more liberty here 
than in England ; and an old soldier told me, in his opinion, the 
men in authority here ' are not as fitting for to bear rule as them 
with us.' 

We are now at Scranton ; here iron is plentiful, and found in 
juxtaposition with the coal. The railway bars are manufactured 
and laid down at once, transmuted from the surrounding rocks, 
and made the means of conveying their own treasures ! It has 
been said * an undcvout astronomer is mad ; ' surely here one is 
made to say ' an undevout geologist must be insane ! ' 

I am in hopes this ugly name of Scranton may be changed to 
that of Lackawanna, the Indian appellation for a lovely valley, 
which terminates the coal region on this side. I am now (June 
16th) writing from a town called Montrose, situated in the north- 
ern part of Pennsylvania ; it is a very elevated situation. We 
rose a hill for some distance. The railway had conducted us 
about forty miles from Scranton ; our way followed the course of 
a deep glen, much resembling Glen Tilt, in Blair Athol, and we 
are hospitably received at the house of a gentleman here. 

Montrose, June 17. — After Morning Service the Bishop's 
duties took us to the house of a gentleman and lady, near Spri. g- 
field ; and I do not think I was ever more interested by any re- 
ligious services than there. A country church, which probably 
accommodated from two to three hundred people, was filled to 
overflowing by a respectable looking congregation, of which the 
majority were men. After an excellent sermon, touching upon 
the dangers, particularly imminent in thriving communities, of 



344 NOVEL CHURN. 

the prevalence of a mammonite covetous spirit, the Bishop gave a 
short and simple explanation of the reasons which make confir- 
mation a rite of the episcopal communion, preparatory to the re- 
ception of seven candidates ; one a venerable looking old man, 
and the other six considerably past youth. The whole congrega- 
tion remained as witnesses, wrapt in mute attention ; the ceremo- 
ny was strikingly impressive. That cartoon of Paid preaching 
at Athens, was vividly brought to my mind by the massive figure 
and countenance of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, earnest, elo- 
quent, self-forgetting ; every eye turned upon him with an ex- 
pression of love and veneration which could hardly have been ex- 
ceeded in Apostolic days. Here, too, were early converts ; here, 
too, might be doubters and cavillers to whom the scene was new ; 
but I felt sure that on this occasion many a sheep was gathered 
into one fold under one shepherd ; and by a shepherd, too, who 
would watch over his increasing flock with wisdom as well as ten- 
derness. He is now received under a roof not professedly at- 
tached to his church ; but the hearts are with him, whether the 
external profession of its inmates may be his or not. 

A visit to this district is extremely refreshing as a counter- 
poise to the more worldly, ostentations, selfih communities of com- 
mercial places. Here simplicity of manners, quietude of dress, 
and friendliness of feeling, are united with refinement and culture ; 
it is under such circumstances that the American character is 
seen to advantage. Agriculture predominates, and trade is sub- 
ordinate ; the influence of the former is certainly more salutary ; 
and when farming and gardening are pursued as a relaxation by 
men engaged in commercial life, I have remarked their beneficial 
influence upon character. A. fine view of part of the Alleghany 
chain of mountains is obtained from this place ; and there is an 
interesting little farm belonging to our hosts, which supplies the 
best butter and cream I have tasted in the United States ; and 
what is more, the butter is churned by the willing co-operation of 
animals I never before saw industriously occupied. A small cir- 
cular treadmill turns a wheel, attached to a kind of piston, which 
falls into the churn ; a ewe and her lambs are engaged in walking 



I 



VALLEY OF PEACE. 845 

up-hill, towards a small hole in the wall of the shed which shel- 
ters the machine. A little salt and some meal placed in the hole 
is at once an incentive, and a reward of exertion ; and the old and 
young sheep appear most contentedly employed, while a dairy- 
woman is spared labour. She at times stops the machinery to 
rest the animals, who always seem willing to walk on again after 
a few minutes. As the movement depends upon weight, a sheep 
is more^ useful than a dog for this avocation ; besides which the 
latter is less plodding and not so benefited by clambering ; and 
the fattening of the mutton while her work goes on, is a proof it 
agrees with her. I have ordered one of these machines, and hope 
it will be a useful present to an English dairy. 

We returned to Montrose the evening of the 18th, as the 
Bishop was engaged to lecture there upon the ' Character of 
AVashington,' in aid of the funds for building a parsonage house. 
His confirmation next day was at a place named Pike, and he al- 
lowed me to accompany him to see the Wiolusing (valley of peace). 
More appropriate and beautiful Indian names have been retained 
hereabouts than is common in America. The Susquehanna 
(winding river) twists about so as almost to encircle the country 
we have been traversing. We left Montrose early on the 21st, 
and went by New Milford to Great Bend ; wooded hills and vales 
are diversified by lakes and streams the whole way to Owego (or 
Auwega, the Indian name), from which place I now write; the 
Susquehanna again flowing opposite our hotel, as it did a hundred 
miles off at Wilkesbarre. To-morrow we proceed to Towanda. 

June 26. — Another pretty place on the Susquehanna. We 
have again followed that river from Grreat Bend. The valley from 
Waverley here is exceedingly fine, much resembling that of the Inn 
in Bavaria ; but the carriage-road follows the edge of a precipice 
nearly the whole way, and it is so narrow, that once when we met 
a small wagon, the horses were taken off, and the vehicle backed 
some distance before we could pass. On Sunday last I saw a 
young lady, of mature age, baptized; the baptismal font (as is 
usual in America) was within the communion-rails, between the 
reading-desk and pulpit ; and to those who consider symbolisms 
15* 



346 ELMlllA. 

secondary to other considerations, this is pleasing and convenient 
as the lecipient kneels down at the rails. In the evening the 
Bishop confirmed the persons also chiefly beyond youth ; and in 
the afternoon he had a Service, principally for children. 

21th. — Mr. W took charge of the rest of the party dur- 
ing a glorious drive of twenty miles across the mountains, while 

the Bishop and Mrs. P went off to another point for some 

distant duty. We did not meet them again till we had slept at 

the pretty town of Elmira, where Mrs. W and I took a 

pleasant and beautiful walk to one of numerous hills which sur- 
round the place, and there we saw a brilliant sunset. Here the 
formation is sand-stone, rich in fossils. The River Chemung flows 
through Elmira. We retired early and were up again by four 

o'clock. The Bishop met us at a station near C , and we 

were driven to Wellsborough by a gentleman who came with his 
carriage. There several hospitable houses were opened to the 

party, but we at last concentrated it at Mr. C 's, which was 

sufficiently large to receive us all, and to bestow every luxury and 
comfort. 

At first I was taken charge of most kindly by another 
family, and I felt almost open to the charge of ingratitude when 
I left them, at the instance of our guide and governor, to rejoin 
the rest of our travelling party ; but the son of those I deserted 
still undertook to aid my sketching and botanical propensities. 
In a distant . ramble he procured me some yellow water lilies, 
the large leaves of which were more dark and shining than ours 
(Nuphar advena, or Spatter dock). They ornament the small 
creeks about here. Gray mentions the plant as most common in 
shallow waters. We found it blooming only at a depth of three 
or four feet, and sometimes the flowers were to be observed quite 
under; perhaps this was in consequence of a late sudden rise 
in the streams. Linna^a borealis was plentiful, carpeting a for- 
est of gigantic white pines ; and in the meadows I found Astei 
graminifolius. 

Within thirty or forty miles of this place, Rosa Lake gives 
rise to three streams, which flow north, east, and south. One 



PLEASANT TRAVELLERS. 34:7 

empties itself into the St. Lawrence; another into the Chesa- 
peake, and a third into the Gulf of Mexico ; so that these moun- 
tains must indeed be the Highlands of the United States. 

On Thursday, the 28th of June, we left Wellsborough, after 
entering the cars sixteen miles off. We journeyed to Batavia, 
passing by Bath and the medicinal springs of Avon. On the 
29th, the rest of the party left me to proceed to Niagara, and I 
went alone forty miles by railroad to Canandaigua, where I again 

find myself the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Gr with whom I stayed 

some days last October. 

On Monday, July 2nd, I hope to reach Utica, where B 

is awaiting me, with the Governor and Mrs. Seymour. The 
weather is now intensely hot : for three days the thermometer 
has ranged above ninety degrees in the shade. Very active loco- 
motion must be given up till after August, and I shall take this 
time for making quiet visits among friends in New York and New 
England States ; first seeing Trenton Falls, where I hope once more 
to meet the Bishop of Pennsylvania and his party. We were 
together three such pleasant weeks ! I feel sure that not one 
unkind thought, or even one careless word cast a shadow over 
tjie enjoyment of a single individual among the seven who thus 
journeyed together ; and yet I have heard it said that travelling 
in company is one of the most severe tests to which temper and 
friendship can be subjected. I do not subscribe to that opinion. 
Change of scene is in itself a healthy kind of excitement, and 
therefore it is likely to make people good-humoured, and more 
accommodating than usual. I should be sorry to pin my faith 
upon the every-day kindness of a cross traveller. 

The country between Batavia and Canandaigua is less at- 
tractive than that v/e have lately seen. We came through part 
of the Genesee Valley the day before yesterday, which is very 
fine. Twenty years ago that was the boundary of civilization ; 
now it is in the midst of towns and settlements. Anglo-Saxon 
energy, with a dash of German determination and Irish quick- 
ness, is flying over this immense continent almost as fast as the 
stream of electricity pervades and connects its most remote locali- 



846 uTicA. 

ties. Talk of American nationality I as if America is not an 
epitome of the world ; and surely the inhabitants of America 
may well be proud of their cosmopolitanism, instead of fostering 
a narrow sectional spirit. They may succeed in transferring the 
blood of all nationalities into a pure New World stream, if it be 
only healthfully taken charge of, with the sole exception of one 
dark current, with which they are entrusted for purification, not 
amalgamation — for education, not adoption. I forgot to say that 
my intention of joining Bishop Horatio Potter was given up, or 
rather he has given me up. His brother concludes that Church 
affairs drew him another way ; and T have had quite sufficient 
to fill up my time without attempting Ticonderoga at present. 

Utica, July 3. — Yesterday I accomplished, without much 
difficulty, a solitary journey here. More numerous packages 
(occupied by stones and flowers, &c.) than were quite convenient 
for an individual to undertake, during the necessary change of 
cars at Syracuse, exercised care and patience ; but I brought them 

all safe, and I have now rejoined K . My English letters 

have been delivered at New York — a disappointment, as I hoped 
to find them here ; but the electric telegraph will bring them 
quickly, and in the meanwhile I find some interesting American 
correspondence, particularly a letter from Bishop Elliott, in 
answer to an inquiry of mine as to whether Miss Bremer had not 
misunderstood his opinion upon slavery. I am not forbidden to 
quote from his reply, and I therefore extract freely from the con- 
clusion. He first explains that he had only agreed with Miss 
Bremer in combating some extreme opinions. It is too impor- 
tant not to be made use of. 

The Bishop then says : — 

* Is is well for Christians and philanthropists to consider 
whether, by their inteference with this institution, they may not 
be checking and impeding a work which is manifestly providential. 
For nearly a hundred years the English and American Churches 
have been striving to civilize and Christianize Western Africa, 
and with what result ? Around Sierra Leone, and in the neigh- 
bourhood of Cape Palraas, a few natives have been made Christians, 



BISHOP ELLIOTT ON SLAVERY. 349 

and some nations have been partially civilized ; but what a small 
number in comparison with the thousands, nay, I may say millions, 
who have learned the way to Heaven, and who have been made 
to know their Saviour through the means of African slavery ! 
At this very moment there are from three to four millions of 
Africans, educating for earth and for Heaven in the so vilified 
Southern States — educating in a thousand ways of which the world 
knows nothing — educating in our nurseries, in our chambers, in 
our parlours, in our workshops, and in our fields, as well as in our 
churches; learning the very best lessons for a semi-barbarous 
people — lessons of self-control, of obedience, of perseverance, of 
adaption of means to ends; learning, above all, where their weak- 
ness lies, and how they may acquire strength for the battle of life. 
These considerations satisfy me with their condition, and assure 
me that it is the best relation they can, for the present, be made 
to occupy. As a race, they are steadily improving. So far from 
the institution being guilty of degrading the negro, and keeping 
him in degradation, it has elevated him in the scale of being much 
above his nature and race, and it is continuing to do so. Place 
an imported African (of whom a few still remain) side by side 
with one of the third or fourth generation, and the difi"erence is so 
marked that they look almost like distinct races — not only in 
mind and knowledge, but in physical structure. 

' That monkey face, the result of an excessively obtuse facial 
angle, has become, without any admixture of blood, almost as 
human as that we are accustomed to see in the white race, and it 
has a facial angle as distinctly a right angle as that which belongs 
to the Caucasian family. The thick lips have become thin — the 
dull eye is beaming with cunning, if not with intelligence ; the 
understanding is acute and ingenious. Their knowledge, when 
they have been instructed by missionaries or by owners, is re- 
spectable. A man has been made out of a barbarian, an intelli- 
gent and useful labourer out of an ignorant savage — a Christian 
and a child of God, out of a heathen ; and this is called degrad- 
ing the African race, by holding them in slavery ! Such language 
is only of a piece with that miserably false sentimentalism which 



350 BISHOP ELLIOTT ON SLAVERY. 

is pervading the world — such sentimentalism as thinks it cruel 
that a child should be disciplined or a criminal punished ; which 
looks so tenderly upon the means as quite to overlook the great 
end those means may be working out. God's ways are not dis- 
cordant with this way of Slavery. He who sees everything in its 
true aspect, with whom a thousand years is as one day — in whose 
sight the light affliction of this life, which is but for a moment, is 
far outweighed by the glory which is to follow — cares very little 
for the present means through which His will is working. What 
is it that a man should be a slave, if through that means he may 
become a Christian ? What is it that one, or even ten genera- 
tions should be slaves, if, through that arrangement, a race be 
training for future glory and self-dependence ? What are the 
sufferings (putting them at the worst) which the inhumanity and 
self-interest, and the restraints of law can inflict for a few gene- 
rations, when compared with the blessings which may thus be 
wrought out for countless nations inhabiting a continent ? What 
is to be the course and what the end of this relation, God only 
knows. My feeling just now is, that I would defend it against 
all interference, just as I should defend my children from any one 
who would tempt them to an improper independence; just as I 
should defend any relation of life whicb man was attempting to 
break or to violate, ere the purpose of God in it had been worked 
out.' 

And these are the opinions of Bishop Elliott, of Georgia, the 
man who remained nursing and consoling the sick and the dying, 
and burying the dead, when Savannah was decimated by yellow 
fever, and when thousands were falling victims around him ! 
After this, who will dare, with a self-laudatory philanthropy, 
stand up and contrast his own abolitionism with the patient, prac- 
tical doings of a conscientious slave-owner ? Unhappily, it has 
of late years been too common among well-intentioned weak Chris- 
tians to set up a stock of philanthropy at the expense of others. 
Let all do the work at their own doors, and the worlc of God in 
the world will be well done. If each man will reform himself, 
human nature will be effectually mended. But, as theory is 



A NEGRO WEDDING. 



851 



easier than practice, so it is more common to look after the mote 
in our brother's eye than to take the beam out of our own. 

As a commentary upon the Slavery question, I add two 
articles taken from newspapers — one, the account of a negro 
wedding, the other descriptive of a negro funeral. I must also 
mention that, in conversing with the free blacks, I rarely find 
them contented with their situation. An intelligent well-looking 
black carried my things from an hotel at Batavia to the train. I 

inquired if he liked the country ? — ' Pretty well, missus, but ' 

There is always a ' but ' from the lips of a Northern black — rarely 
expressed in the South, where it is generally, ' Mighty fond of 
master or missus ; black people well to do, not often too much 
work, missus ;' ' Many has got plenty of jewelry, missus ; ' ' We 
get our own way tolerable, missus,' &c., &c. 

Staunton, June 21, 1855. 

A SLAVE WEDDING IN OLD VIRGINIA— THE INVITATIONS- 
NEGRO ARISTOCRACY, &c., &c. 

I send you herewith the originals of three invitations to a negro wedding, 
which is to take place on the 27th, at Richmond. The envelopes are in the 
best style of De La Rue and Co., open-work embossed, and of the finest tex- 
ture. They enclose an embossed card, inscribed thus : — 



Mr. 


and Mrs. 


Tai 


LOR 


wiU b 


e pleased to see you 


on 


Wedne 


sday Evening, 


June 27th, 


at 8^ o'clock. 














Maria Johnson. 














Adam Hawkins. 




Richmond. 













The supersci'iption is as follows : — ' Mr. Charles Jackson and lady, pre- 
sent ;' the second is to ' Mr. Henry Cassie and lady, present ; ' and the third 
to ' Mrs. Jane Hawkins.' The notes are written in a neat, Italian hand- 
writing, and tied with white satin ribbon, a la mode de Paris. 

These invitations were all received by members of my family. Mrs. 
Hawkins is my cook ; Mrs. Jackson my Laundress ; Mrs. Cassie my JiUe de 



352 A NEGRO FUNERAL. 

chambre. They are all slaves, and their husbands are also slaves, owned by 
some of my neighbours. The happy bridegroom is related to my coloured 
family. They will doubtless have a happy time of it, and I commend to 
Greeley the case of these ' oppressed children of Africa.' I am sorry that 
every abolitionist in the land should not hav§ an opportunity to see one such 
Virginia wedding. Valley. 



A LARGE NEGRO FUNERAL. 



A coloured man named Samuel Betterson, an ordained deacon of the 3d 
Coloured Baptist Church, was buried yesterday afternoon. A very large 
number of his friends followed him to his grave. We noticed in the procession, 
three uniformed fire companies, and another joined them on the South Com- 
mon. The Porter's Association, of which he was a member, turned out, and 
wore black scarfs, with white rosettes. We also noticed in the procession, 
two or three Female Benevolent Associations, distinguished by suitable dresses. 
A spectator counted thirty-five carriages, well filled, besides a number of other 
conveyances, and many on horseback, following the hearse. It is estimated 
that between two thousand and two thousand five hundred coloured persons 
were in the procession. 

The mother of the Rev. John Cox, the coloured pastor of the 3d Baptist 
Church, was also buried yesterday afternoon. About fifty carriages, con- 
taining her relations and friends, followed her remains to the grave. 

John Guerrard, a coloured fireman, and a member of engine No. 5, was 
also buried yesterday afternoon. The members of his company, in uniform, 
and a large number of his friends, in carriages and on horseback, followed 
him to the grave. 

We will add, for the information of our northern friends, that the funeral 
processions above noticed were perfectly quiet and orderly, and that every 
thing connected with them was conducted with the utmost decorum and 
propriety. 

July 4. — I am now again witli Mr. and Mrs. Seymour. Utica 
is a pleasant town ; the Valley of the Mohawk, in which it is 
situated, is highly cultivated. Mrs. J. Seymour took me last even- 
ing to one of the low surrounding hills, and I thought the view 
resembled those from some of our Gloucestershire elevations. 
We went to see the pretty rural cemetery, and sat down upon a 
boulder of granite, once considered the sacred stone of the In- 



CAZENOVIA. 353 

dians. It was brought from a distance of thirty miles to save it 
from destruction, and room was left around the little mound where 
it was placed for the interment of any of the red people who might 
wish to be buried near it. Many of them attended the consecra- 
tion of the cemetery, but not one has ever availed himself of the 
privilege of interment there, partly because the tribes have almost 
all gone West ; and any individuals who may still linger in the 
Oneida land are too poor to incur the expense of distant funerals. 

Here there is an American nursery gardener really fond of 
flowers — the first time I have met with a native of the United 
States with that taste powerful enough to induce him to devote 
himself to their cultivation. All. the nursery men I have made 
acquaintance with before have been English, Scotch, or Irish, and 
none of them found suflElcient encouragement to be much devoted 
to their pursuit. This, the Anniversary of American Indepen- 
dence, is a day of noisy rejoicing, taken advantage of by boys 
and men for a Saturnalia of squibs and crackers, which are not 
only unceasingly exploding to-day, but have been unpleasantly 
active ever since I arrived, on Monday. It is more alarming for 
horses and for petticoats than even our celebration of Guy Fawkes. 
In the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Seymour are to take me to the 
residence of their brother-in-law, forty miles off, at Cazenovia, 
which I understand is a beautiful locality, and one abounding in 
fossils. 

Cazenovia^ July 5. — We went thirty-five miles by cars, a few 

miles in a stage, and at Chittenango Mr. L met us with his 

carriage. Chittenango means, Hhe river flowing north;' Che- 
nango, ' the water going south.' From Chittenango there is a 
gradual rise of eight miles to Cazenovia. Limestone caps the 
hills : as you advance, scarlet berried elders appear accompanying 
it ; and by the sides of the valley I found Psoralea Onobryches> 
the scarlet maple, and a beautiful rose-coloured Calystegia, so 
different in tint and character from Sepium, I can think it only 
a variety. We stopped on our way to see a pretty fall of the 
Chittenango. I expected to find Cazenovia a wild, rocky, moun- 
tainous lake, the settlement built of log-houses, and buried in 



354 ORNITHOLOGY. 

pine-woods. I find a calm water, something like Wenham Pond, 
about four miles long, with an ornamented regular little town, 
and Mr. L.'s house overlooking the water — a solid, brick, English- 
like residence. It is all pretty, but quite in a different style from 
that my imagination had pictured. The situation is as high as 
the Lake of G-eneva. We took an interesting drive yesterday to 
see one of the sulphur sinks, or green ponds, twelve miles' distance, 
and on the way there were extended views in every direction. 
One fine prospect took in the whole length of Lake Oneida, twen- 
ty miles; and in that direction it seemed possible to see almost 
to Canada. Valleys between these limestone ridges are believed 
to be the work of denudation, and such circular ponds as those 
we saw yesterday have bsen possibly caused by the melting of 

salt formations, which Mr. L thinks may have been carried 

off to enrich the salt-pans of Syracuse. The fossils of this district 
are very interesting and new to me : I never before saw such gi- 
gantic Trilobites — they are almost as large as the cast of one 
shown to me at Cincinnati. 

At last I have seen a humming-bird ; and, foolishly enough, I 
was surprised by its humming. I thought the name was owing 
to their resemblance to a bee on the wing, but they hum louder 
than any bee ; and the one I saw sat a long time on a sprig, and 
seemed to be drying his little self in the sun, after the wet in the 
morning; if disturbed, it only flew to a post near the tree upon 
which we first observed it, and then went back again. I did not 
see him feed ; yet I understand he is seldom to be seen but on 
the wing feeding. Yesterday, Mr. L pointed out the king- 
bird, a little unarmed bird, which, by activity and perseverance, 
asserts a sovereignty over the feathered tribe, and chases even 
hawks away from a field. I observed him banishing a crow six 
times as large as himself: he follows incessantly, and torments 
until his subject flies off. Here I have been shown some curious 
nests. It seems the cow-bird in this country is as indolent a 
mother as our cuckoo : she lays an egg in the nests of other birds^ 
and leaves it to take its chance in a strange family. A species 
of linnet is wise enough to find out the liberty taken at her ex- 



RURAL HOTEL. 355 

pense : in one instance she inserted another nest above the in- 
truded egg, so as to leave it nnhatched ; in another, the linnet 
contrived to sink the cow-bird's progeny below her own eggs. 
The oriole will appropriate any silk or worsted put in her way, 
and I am to have a very pretty nest interlaced with scarlet wool ; 
and the line line of a fishing rod, with the hook attached, has 
also been turned in with other materials. The yellow linnet is a 
very showy little bird. I have seen here also a milk-white wood- 
pecker, with black wings and neck. What is here called a robin 
is more like one of our thrushes, with a faint tinge of red on his 
breast. It may be remarked in this neighbourhood, elevated as 
it is, that a large quantity of drift has at some time been brought 
here from Canada. Large boulders and rolled pebbles of granite 
and gneiss form part of it ; and as these increase in size and 
quantity going northward, their progress and direction can be 
traced. In a forest near the ' Green Pond,' for the first time I 
found what is called the walking fern (Campiosorus rhizophyllus). 

Friday^ July 6. — We set off to see a pretty waterfall about 
eight miles from Cazenovia, and as I sketched from long grass in 
a down-pour of rain, I got thoroughly wet ; but the interest of 
the place kept me warm, and no mischief happened from the drive 
back in wet things. In the afternoon we were rowed upon the 
lake very pleasantly by a little girl under twelve years of age. 

July 1th. — I returned with Mr. and Mrs. Seymour to Utica, 
in our way to Trenton Falls, where we met three of my fel- 
low-tourists in Pennsylvania ; but the Bishop and Mrs. Potter had 
been obliged to go off in another direction. 

July Sth. — This is the most charming and rural hotel I have 
seen in America ; it is situated almost in a dense hemlock spruce 
forest, and has a garden quite English in style and neatness ; and 
the rooms, brightly clean and comfortable, are decorated with 
prints and drawings chosen with artistic taste. The present land- 
lord married a daughter of the first possessor of this property 
twenty years ago, and is now the owner. Everything about it is 
in accordance with the beauty and magnificence of its natural 
scenery : no forced ornaments or glaring paint jars upon the feel- 



356 A FOREST SWAMP 

ings or hurts the eye. Here is a kind of mesmeric influence 
which impresses the heart unconsciously : a sincere worshipper 
of nature is at once assured that one of her most lovely shrines 
cannot be desecrated by an adoration of Mammon's golden idol. 
Mr. Moore is worthy of Trenton both by taste and education. 
This name Trenton was formerly Oldenbarneveld : one regrets it, 
although originating from the Hollanders, not the Indian, whose 
appropriate appellation was ' Kangahoora ' (leaping waters), and 
he called the river Kanata (Amber River), equally descriptive ; 
for at some places the falls resemble liquid amber, and occasion- 
ally the tumbling stream appears to have an edging of gold. 
The Governor and Mrs. Seymour first took me to see it from the 
Forest-walk, where the chasm below resembled that of the Tilt at 
Blair Athol, only filled by a wider, larger river, and by a succes- 
sion of higher falls. 

After dinner Mr. Moore took us a long walk, over wall and 
fence, to see a railroad in process of formation, by the aid of a 
very powerful and ingenious machine, worked by steam. The 
ground it is excavating is a hill of sand ; an immense scoop, 
with a kind of trap-door behind, pokes in and fills itself, and then 
turns quietly and majestically round alone to the wagon at one 
side ; the scoop then opens and at once deposits half a load, while 
people above push down the undermined ground ; at this rate a 
mountain rapidly vanishes. 1 am no mechanic, but there is a 
simple grandeur in these evolutions which touched me considera- 
bly. I have always felt that even railroads have their poetry, 
and if I were a rhymer, this grand, solemn workman would set 
me rhyming. 

In our way back Mr. Moore was so obliging as to accede to 
my wish that he would take me into a forest swamp, to see the 
mocassin flower growing ; as we had to go down a steep woody 
hill, guided by a man living near, the rest of the party, excepting 
one young man, deserted. I was fully repaid for a rather difficult 
scramble by finding numbers of the beautiful pink Cypripedium 
spectabile (I should not call it purple) and Lilium Canadense by 
its side. The latter I have occasionally seen by the edges of rail- 



THE ' BOILING POT.' 357 

roads, but I never before gathered it. The pretty little white 
anemone-like-looking Dalibarda repens was also in flower all over 
the adjoining banks. 

Next morning Mr. Moore took charge of us during a walk to 
all the falls along the edge of the torrent ; without his experi- 
enced guidance I should have been afraid to undertake this, but 
as the water was high enough for beauty, and not too high for 
safety, it was very, enjoyable. I sketched the three principal 
cataracts. It will not do to compare them with Niagara — it is an 
entirely different kind of thing ; but certainly after Niagara t 
should prefer visiting Trenton to any other water scenery in 
America. Some of the party were obliged to leave us at one 
o'clock ; but Mrs. Seymour and I delayed our departure till five, 
and remained out till near three. 

Within the spray of one of the falls I discovered a small fern 
(some species of Pteris) not described by Gray, and I cannot help 
hoping it is altogether new to botanists. It is about the size of 
an Asplenium Ruta Muraria, but a bright green, and the fronds 
soft, not shining, and not crisp, like the Pteris crispa. We re- 
turned to Utica in the evening, and yesterday Governor Seymour 
came with me to Albany. I now write again from the Congress 
Hotel, and to-morrow it is my plan to go over to visit Mrs. Ed- 
wards, at Lenox, Mass. I understand it is a pretty place among 
the Berkshire hills ; from thence 1 shall go on to spend a month 
among my Boston friends, and there I shall have enough to do to 
unpack and arrange the numerous boxes of stones, shells, and 
plants, I have at different times forwarded to Mr. Long's care. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 

Albany, July 11. 

P. S. — In coming from Utica yesterday we almost followed 
the course of the Mohawk River, and came through several places 
which still retain the Indian names — Cauajoharie (the * boiling- 
pot') from a spring which resembles a small whirlpool, and Sche- 
nectady (* the end of the pine plain'). 



LETTEK XXYIII. 



Lknox, Bekkshiee Hills, MASSAOHrsErrs, ) 
July 18, 1855. ] 

My dear Friends, — 

This place differs from all those I have "before seen in the 
United States. A cottage belonging to my hosts is situated on an 
eminence, nearly in the centre of an extensive valley ; yet the 
surrounding country is hardly a vale. It is a depression made 
up of numberless unequal hills, and bounded by higher irregular 
ones, with fine mountains showing north and south, at a distance 
of about twenty-five or thirty miles. Saddleback to the north, 
emulates Loch na Garr, near Balmoral, in form; Washington 
southwards is its twin mountain, though apparently less -grand. 
About a mile in front of the house there are small lakes, bordered 
and half hid by woods and broken ground. At present no offices 
or interfering plantations shut out the panorama, and its efi'ect 
upon the windows and lawn is almost perfect — rather Scotch than 
Swiss in character ; but, as seen from the house, it is a view which 
embraces a wider and more varied extent than any I know else- 
where as a home prospect. Although many have one side from 
which a still greater expanse of hills, valleys, and lakes may be 
seen, I am not acquainted with any other spot which has such 
views on every side. Mrs. and Miss Catharine Sedgwick live 
near Lenox. One evening we drank tea with them, and met Mr. 
and Mrs. 11. P. James. Mrs. Fanny Kemble has a cottage near. 



A SHAKER VILLAGE. 359 

Authors and poets seem to congregate around this, the * Lake 
District ' of the United States. 

Through Miss Sedgwick I got some Indian names of places — 
names that are now fast fading out of memory ; but she has res- 
cued these from the talk of an Indian woman, and they are worth 
preservation. A river, now called Housatonic, flows below Lenox. 
This is a corruption of ' Awastonook ' (over the mountains). The 
Indians so called it when they came from the Hudson. There is 
a spot called now Elizabeth Lot (Elizabeth is ' Auchweem^e,' the 
name of a berry). That place was also ' Nanwodtama ' (middle 
of the town). In the pronunciation, the first syllable, Auch^ 
should be spoken gutturally. Kinkerpot, a small lake near, has 
not so euphonious a sound as usual; it was * Kinkapotamia ' 
(where a mare was drawn out of the water). A beautiful meadow, 
where maple trees grow, bore the name ' Hackpeehink ' (the na- 
tion's sugar place). A should be uttered long as in far; the ch 
gutturally ; u with a long sound, as in full. ' Hackpeehuckchoo ' 
(the rising mountain), and Scott's Lake between Lenox and Lee, 
was ' Natchovtashmuch ' (cutting bulrushes). 'The rattlesnake 
mountain,' ' Taheecannach,' but that word signifies hearty and it 
was for some reason associated with the affection then borne by 
the Indians towards the white race. ' Cachcawalchook,' one of 
the mountains near Stockbridge, means ' crossing the mountains.' 
' Massmasschaick,' a ' fish's nest,' is now Monument Mountain. 
The tribe of Indians who came to these parts from the North 
River was called ' Maheecanneek.' ' Choo,' or ' Chook,' means 
mountain. ' Queecheeochook,' ' mountain river.' ' Pahquinapack- 
kuch,' ' dark water.' ' Pangqueseek,' the name of a marsh near 
this place. ' Washcuing ' and ' Washen^e ' are now the Salisbury 
Lakes. 

I was taken to visit a Shaker village, which, perhaps, from 
the beauty of its situation, appeared less gloomy than the estab- 
lishment I saw last year near Albany. But, after all, these places 
are little better than open mad houses. The inhabitants generally 
look ill and depressed. One pretty rosy little girl about thirteen 
attracted our notice. She looked quite out of place, but for- 



360 CAMBRIDGE. 

tunately, as Shakers are not bound by vows, she may be freed 
some of these days — and inmates often do grow tired of such a 
cold formal life, and make off. One woman, not long ago, left 
this village, and engaged herself in one of the most noisy factories 
she could find. I suppose the contrast was agreeable. Another 
day I went to see what is called the Ice Valley, near Stockbridge. 
Heaps of massive rocks are thrown one upon another in a narrow 
gorge, to which the sun never penetrates ; and in some deep holes 
winter snows accumulate, and remain unthawed through the hot- 
test summers. Rambling about and sketching have occupied my 
time during a pleasant ten days passed among the Berkshire hills, 
so journalizing has been at a standstill. 

Caynhridge^ near Boston^ July 23. — I am now with Dr. and 
^Irs. Gray, at the Botanic Garden. We came by Springfield, 
through which town the Connecticut flows, a fine river. The 
path of the railroad goes through a mountainous district the first 
fifty miles. 

July 24. — I went to the cottage of my friend, Mr. F , at 

Brookline ; and I was surprised to find it rurally situated, among 
woods and hills, equi-distant from the villages of Brighton and 
Brookline, instead of being in a flat uninteresting country. 

July 28. — I took the railroad five miles to Boston, and saw 
Captain Judkins, who this time has brought in the Canada^ 
instead of Captain Stone. Captain Judkins was sent with troops 
for the Crimea, in the Arabia, but he got the fever and was in- 
valided home ; Captain Stone replaced him ; and on Captain Jud- 
kins's recovery, he took charge of the Canada till the large new 
steamer, Persia, just launched, is ready for sea. I have engaged 
my old berth for the last week in October, as that time is consi- 
dered favourable for making the voyage home. In one of the pa- 
pers I see that a Creole, at Havana, has been thrown into prison 
on suspicion of possessing a likeness of Bamon Pinto. Yesterday 
I heard another anecdote, illustrative of slavery and the negro 
character. My informant, who was lately travelling in Virginia, 
was at Sulphur Springs. The master of the hotel had a clever 
active black waiter, but he was a ' bad boy.' After some parti- 
cular act of misconduct, the master called up his slave : 



WHITES IN THE NORTHERN STATES. 861 

* You are a hopeless rascal, Horace ; I will have nothinp; more 
to do with yoii. Here are some dollars and your papers of free- 
dom ; go off into Kentucky, and never let me see you again.' 

* Can't possible, massa ; won't go, massa.' 

* Won't ! but you must ! you are quite able to take care of 
yourself,' 

' Sha'n't, massa. Fac is, can't no way 'gree with them free 
niggers.' 

And Horace remained ; his owner might flog, but it is hardly 
possible for him to shake off a servant determined not to go ; 
selling is the only way. But respectable slaveowners are very 
adverse to this mode of ' proceeding ; and it is not easy to get rid 
of a troublesome negro.' In some respects the masters are the 
slaves of their servants, who often dictate instead of obeying. I 
here repeat, what probably my friends in England will be slow in 
believing, that, in the mass. Southern slaveowners are conscien- 
tiously fulfilling their trying and painful duties ; and that I have 
seen more of comfort, cheerfulness, contentment, and religious 
principle among negroes of the Southern States, than among any 
other working population of the same amount, either here, or in 
England. In the Northern States the whites have great physical 
and mental advantages ; but there is an absence of true content- 
ment among them, and a prevalence of insanity sad to contem- 
plate. I suppose the restlessness consequent upon a new country 
and Republican institutions does not tend to real self-happiness. 
I must positively assert, that the countenances and manner of 
Americans as a nation, do not express contentment. That there 
may be heart-rending abuses in the South I do not deny, 
though I have not witnessed them ; but what is there which is 
not liable to abuse ? I could tell of heart-rending abuses in the 
North. ' Offences will come, but woe unto them by whom they 
come.' No one can doubt that the change of the education and 
improvement of a black population, through slavery, is a trying 
and arduous responsibility — a task for which pecuniary advantages 
are a poor compensation, and one which is not often repaid by 
either pecuniary or moral profit ; and there are dangerous and 
IG 



362 SLAVERY AN OUDINATION OF GOD. 

awful temptations accompanying it; but are not temptations 
God's discipline for life ? We cannot suppose they will ever be 
removed ; but we must take care they ' bring forth fruit in due 
season.' Personally, with all my love of freedom, I would much 
prefer to be a slave in the South (not in Cuba), than one of those 
pariahs, called free negroes in the North. 

I am now with an abolitionist friend, who, like most aboli- 
tionists, has never visited the South. We can therefore sympa- 
thize only in a wish to see those States free where black labour 
can be superseded by white — and this for the sake of the white 
race rather than the black. I cannot praise those Southerners 
who keep their slaves, all the while maintaining that Slavery is a 
dark spot, to be washed off the first convenient opportunity. 
Such slaveowners are sinning against conscience ; they must be- 
lieve in slavery as one of the means by which it pleases the Most 
High to discipline the white and the black for higher things ; or 
they must at any cost repudiate Slavery altogether. Had the 
civilized world united to regulate instead of attempting to abol- 
ish, each black, as he gained sufficient knowledge, habits of fore- 
thought, and industry, might by law have been given the right to 
purchase his own freedom at a certain age, and such negroes 
would have gone back to Christianize and civilize Africa. But 
the futile endeavour to abolish, instead of to regulate, has resulted 
in injury instead of benefit to the black race ; just as the Maine 
Law punishes the use, rather than the abuse, of spirituous liquors. 
At one house, the house too of a great abolitionist and promoter 
of the Maine Law, I met with ^ tipsy-cake,' and saw it liberally 
bestowed even upon children ! So we may eat drink, but wo 
must not drink drink ! Is not this humbua; ? 

August 6. — We have been paying a very agreeable visit at 
the house of that good Mr. Forbes, who headed a petition to his 
Government, and commanded ships which brought out American 
contributions of food to the starving Irish. This was indeed a 
brotherly act — a grateful acknowledgment of the ' one ancestry 
which now and ever should be a bond of affection between our 
lands ; and I tyust whatever family jars and misunderstandings 



TRAVELLING-BAG LIFE-PRESERVER. 863 

may have arisen in past times to separate parent and children, 
the ' war hatchet ' is now for ever sunk in those unfathomable 
ocean depths by which England and American are at once divided 
and united. 

Milton has a charming vicinity , fine trees, hedges, and even 
roads, bordered by hedges, from which hang lovely draperies of 
sinnax and vines, English in outline if not in detail. The village 
is on high ground, and has every here and there extensive views, 
with the sea, and Boston, and Boston Harbour — ^particularly 
from the granite quarries towards the blue hills, I spent a whole 
morning there, with an American friend who sjonpathized in the 
pleasures of sketching. Rattlesnakes are not uncommon, but 
that reptile is fortunately timid, and rarely stings ; even the wo- 
men and children who are scattered about ' berrying ' — that is, 
gathering the berries of a productive huckleberry ( Vaccinium or 
Galyussacia resinosa). Men find thick leather boots or gaiters 
quite sufficient protection, for rattlesnakes never strike high. 

We passed one pleasant day on the sandy sea shore above 
Nantasket River — a pic-nic party ; and there I saw, as last year 
at Newport, young ladies and gentlemen dancing among the 
waves, as it is a convenient place for bathing. Mr. Forbes went 
into the water and experimented upon his travelling-bag, life pre- 
server — which he thought efi"ectual enough, but then the sea was 
very calm. Many vessels dotted the offing. A sandy bay ex- 
tends five miles in one direction, whilst the other side is indented 
bj rocky inlets. Cape Anne clearly visible in the distance. 
Among other plants, I found for the first time Lycopodium ru- 
pestre. 

Brookline, August 10. — Before my return here, I spent a 
morning at the Botanic Garden, Cambridge, with Dr. and Mrs. 
Gray, to meet Miss Morris, a botanical lady from Philadelphia ; 
we called at the house of Professor Agassiz, but he was deeply 
engaged in ' embryological researches,' at Nahant. From Brook- 
line I went to the Beverley shore, to spend a few days with Mr. 

and Mrs. L , under whose hospitable roof I met with my first 

Welcome this side of the Atlantic, and I wrote about their pretty 
place last year. 



364 THE WISE MEN OF THE WEST. 

Providence^ August 18. — I came here on the 14th, for the meet- 
ing of the American Scientific Association, that I might see the 
wise men of the West assembled together. I am in the pleasant 
and even luxurious abode of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Ives, who sent 
me a kind invitation through Mr. President Wayland. 

August 15. — We attended the morning session; that day 
there were no separate sections. Professor Lomax (after the 
Chairman, Dr. Torry, had opened the meeting) read a paper upon 
the temperature of planetary bodies, and of the space through 
which they travel. This subject raised an animated and interest- 
ing discussion, which was carried on by Agassiz, Henry, Bache, 
Pierce, Rogers, &c. &c. The question about a lunar atmosphere 
seems still doubtful ; one astronomer present adduced proofs that 
signs of twilight were evident, which would speak to the fact of 
an atmosphere for the moon. (I forgot to mention that I passed 
a delightful day with Professor and Mrs. Agassiz at Nahant, and 
he was generous enough to admit the value, and be pleased with 
the fossils 1 brought from Ocala and the Silver Spring, in the 
middle of Florida, and he also said that the existence of cretaceous 
tertiary formations there had not before been ascertained.) Dur- 
ing the discussion of Professor Lomax's papers, a pretty general 
agreement appeared to be arrived at ; that the question of temper- 
ature must be so dependent upon whatever internal heat the sev- 
eral planetary bodies may preserve or evolve, that any calculation 
with regard to their distances from the sun, cannot give certainty 
about their individual temperature. But Agassiz expressed a de- 
cided opinion, that if there are animal organisms inhabiting the 
planets, they must be constituted in a manner entirely different 
from terrestrial creatures ; and if (as I think Whewell remarks) 
the laws of fluids, of light and of motion, are similar in the earth 
and the other bodies, then it seems a fair deduction that as yet 
there has been no creation of life in worlds incapable of support- 
ing such life as we know of Professor Bache, Director of the 
General Coast Survey, showed that the commonly received notion 
of the existence of one great tidal wave, is a mistake. He stated, 
that although something is known as to the direction of tidal waves 



FROZEN WELLts. 365 

in the Atlantic, very little or nothing has yet been ascertained 
respecting those of the Pacific. President Wayland had an even- 
ing reception, which everybody attended ; it was a very pleasant 
party. 

During the morning session of August 16th, Bache gave an 
account of a great earthquake wave on the western coast of the 
Pacific. Professor Brockleby read a paper upon remarkable 
frozen wells near Owego, which have ice during the hottest sum- 
mers. Agassiz, as usual, charmed and informed every one by his 
lucid statement of some zoological facts, and Mr. Blake gave us a 
new and interesting notice upon the geology of California. 

In the evening there was an assembly at Mr. Allen's, where I 
was introduced to Miss Maria Mitchell, the American Mrs. Som- 
erville ; she is as simple and unassuming in manner as our great 
astronomess. 

Friday. — Professor Hall explained much about graptolites 
that was new to me ; he used a lady's parasol to exemplify the 
form of some of these polypi, and Agassiz following, made some 
of his lively, instructive remarks, in which he amused the audience 
by calling the parasol ' this tool ;' he showed that some of the as- 
sociated polypi are probably higher in the scale of organization 
than single individuals. A terrific gunpowder explosion, which 
occurred at Wilmington some short time ago, by the blowing up 
of three wagons (which, though under a regulation of separate de- 
parture, had contrived to travel in company), afforded opportunity 
for another lively discussion, which explained some of the curious 
phenomena observed to result from that explosion ; and a debate 
(also conversational), upon Professor Bache's account of the co-tidal 
lines upon the Pacific coast, exemplified how naturally each branch 
of science dove-tails into all. To the zoologists these tides offer 
reasons, which partly explain the geographical distribution of 
fishes. To the mathematician they read or resolve problems ; — 
whilst they also aid and confirm the observations of geology, and 
thus it was shown how the cultivation of each science elucidates 
every other branch of knowledge. As to the mathematical and 
optical sections, they were beyond my comprehension, and I there- 



366 ZODIACAL LIGHT. 

fore avoided them as much as possible ; but in doing so, I missed 
hearing Mr. Jones's observations on the Zodiacal Light, which I 
am told were deeply interesting. From two hundred and fifty 
careful observations, he decides it to be of the same nature as the 
ring of Saturn ; but another great astronomer asserted that Sat- 
urn's ring is gradually approaching the body of the planet, and 
that within eighty years they must meet. I do not uuderstuLd 
how these two discoveries are to be reconciled. During the sec- 
tion of Natural History this morning, Professor Agassiz showed 
by a clear chain of argument and deduction, that the newly dis- 
covered jaw of a species of shark brought from carboniferous for- 
mations in Western America (I think from Wisconsin), belongs to 
the sword-fish division of that family. Professor Henry made a 
useful practical statement, respecting the best mode of testing 
building materials ; he mentioned that blocks of stone coated (or 
rather divided from each other) by plates of tin, support double 
the weight borne by those which have lead between them, because 
the latter substance gives way to pressure much more easily than 
tin. Mr. Blake continued his observations upon the geology of 
California, and the mountainous ridges along the western coast, 
and Professor Hitchcock exhibited curious drawings from the foot 
impressions of a most extraordinay four-toed, two-legged kind of 
frog, which must have been larger than the largest elephant we 
know of. I cannot feel sure that I have discovered the pith of 
■what I have been listening to these last three days, in this hasty 
sketch, but perhaps it may enable you to judge that a great deal 
of information was elicited, and that the subjects brought forward 
were by no means dry even to unscientific hearers. Saturday 
evening I went to a party at Professor Caswell's ; and yesterday 
I visited the President and Mrs. Wayland. 

Last night a gentleman of Ligh reputation in the legal profes- 
sion told me that the free black people die out so rapidly, that, 
although himself a man only in middle age, he remembers when 
almost every servant in the town was black or coloured, yet now 
few of that race are left. His general views upon the subject of 
slavery were in perfect accordance with those observation has led 



WKEATLEY LEAD MINES. 367 

me to adopt ; and he tliinks that, notwithstanding the eagerness 
and activity of the anti-slavery party, even in the North, a ma- 
jority of the cahn and unprejudiced minds would coincide in 
these opinions ; and that many former abolitionists are adopting 
them. Dr. Adams, who distinguished himself on the anti-slavery 
side, after a visit to the South of sufficient investigation, has pub- 
lished a pamphlet recanting former opinions. Judge Wayne, also, 
confirms my observations respecting the strongly aristocratic 
feeling which prevails among the slaves. They consider it is 
losing caste to connect themselves by marriage with the people 
who may belong to masters of their own race, or even with those 
of inferior ' Buckras ;' and he has known many instances of 
respectable and educated blacks (of individuals who have been 
elevated, not degraded, by slave institutions) who have positively 
refused offers of freedom; sayirg they did not want to leave a 
country the laws of which they understood, to go to one, where, 
perhaps, they may find themselves uncomfortable, and that amoug 
whites it was far more respectable for them to have a master. 
This I am inclined to believe is the opinion of the best informed 
and most superior among the black men — of course there will be 
exceptions ; but it is the giddy and profligate negro, as a general 
rule, who seeks freedom by running avray. This subject is so 
frequently n topic of conversation, that, as long as I remain in 
America, it will turn up in every-day remarks. 

3Ionday, August 21, was occupied by papers and discussions 
upon various subjects. Mr. Lawrence gave a lecture on minerals 
of the Wheatley lead mines, and the method of analyzing sul- 
phates, arsenates, and molybdates of lead. The Rev. Mr. Brooks 
stated a large number of facts, showing the fatal results which 
have followed from the marriages of blood relations. This brought 
up Agassiz upon races-^his observations were very curious and 
striking. Then we had Mr. Blake's notes upon the mammoth 
Red-wood trees (Sequoias) of Calaveros county, California ; that 
tree named by Lindley, ' Wellingtonia,' is also a sequoia. Dr. 
Torry says. Mr. Blake gave me a specimen of this wood, which, 
washed over with a sponge dipped in a solution of soda, immedi- 



368 MR. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

ately became so dark as to be almost ebony like. That evening 
an assembly was held by the Mayor of Providence. Mr. Brown 
and I leave for New York this morning, the 21st ; and as Agassiz 
and many otliers of the scientific body, consider it their duty to 
attend the funeral of Mr. Abbott Lawrence in the Auburn Ceme- 
tery to-morrow, the meeting must be nearly at an end. Professor 
Bache and others offered their tribute of gratitude yesterday in 
euiogiums upon Mr. Lawrence, who v/as so great a benefactor to 
science that the sincere regrets of that body are united to those 
of all other classes upon his death. 

New Yorh^ August 23. — I got to the St. Nicholas Hotel 
after a pretty but dusty journey from Providence. General Scott 
will accompany me to West Point. He is the commander-in- 
chief of the American army — an old soldier, six feet five inches 
in height, who, although he still suffers from wounds received in 
warring with his old country brethren, does not belie his Scotch 
descent either in appearance or feeling. I have taken rooms at 
the New York Hotel for the 27th, to be near the place where the 
Educational Convention will assemble, — the same Convention I 
attended at Washington, and the next assembling of which I then 
promised to visit. 

Viest Pointy August 25. — This, indeed, is the finest locality 
possible for a military school, and it appears to bestow such an 
education as, with some variation, might be a model of early 
training. Five years is the usual term, and seventeen, or at 
earliest fifteen, the age of admission. During my travels in the 
United States, whenever I have fallen in with a young man who 
struck me as superior in information, and even in manner, I 
usually found he had been a Cadet at West Point. It is situated 
in a beautiful highland district upon the banks of the North 
River. At present the summer vacation is still unconciuded, and 
the Cadets who do not take advantage of it are encamped in 
tents, on what is called ' The Plain,' and subject to complete 
military rule. Last night we went to evening parade. There 
was a bright moon in unison with a glowing sunset as we left the 
ground ; it was altogether one of the prettiest and most cheerful 



PALACE OF THE HILLS. 369 

scenes I have witnessed in America, where one great lack is the 
absence of athletic games and merry out-of-door amusements for 
the people. The puritanical leaven has, I suppose, checked 
everything like games, and this may be one reason for the depres- 
sion and melancholy which prevail through the general popula- 
tion. There appears to be no reasonable medium between rowdy- 
ism and gloom ; and so even fires are taken advantage of by the 
young men and boys to get at something like a ' lark.' I am 
going on to the Catskill Mountains to-morrow. 

Mountain House, CafsJcill, August 27. — This hotel, hung 
like a bird's nest two thousand five hundred feet above the North 
River, at the distance of thirteen miles, is placed on a beautiful 
spot, just where a sunrise can be seen to most advantage ; and I 
am so fortunate as to have a room, the windows of which look 
the right way; but unfortunately the sun rose concealed this 
morning — still it was fine to see the clouds chasing each other 
across the moss below. I heard a lady in the open gallery asking 
in sober earnest, ' Is the sun going to rise this morning ? ' He 
was certainly up, though not visible ; and the valley was soon 
also entirely concealed. I went out by six o'clock, and had a 
pleasant scramble on one of the mountains above till heavy rain 
came on ; but before seven it poured. We came up the river 
from West Point yesterday in a steamer going over to Albany. 
I was surprised to find the distance fifty miles — charming scenery 
all the way : in some places the Hudson is as wide as Winder- 
mere Lake, and I could have believed myself there ; and some- 
times this river may be compared to the Pthine ; but it more fre- 
quently resembles a chain of lakes. There is a good carriage 
road all the way to this place ; though the ascent is very steep, 
we mounted it in four-horse coaches. I walked with some ac- 
quaintances the last three miles, and came through the scene of 
Rip van Winkle's adventures. How the materials for building 
this great Palace of the Hills were ever dragged up, I cannot 
imagine. It was a noble thought to plant it here, where thou- 
sands, if not millions, of human beings will, in the course of time, 
find enjoyment, and may regain that health and those spirits which 
16* 



370 CUATSKILL WATERFALL. 

have perhaps been lost in the turmoil below. Fresh cool air may 
always be found here, I am told, even during the hottest summer ; 
and one feels as if beyond, as well as above, sublunary things. 
There is no church within reach, but being Sunday morning, ser- 
vice was read by a minister in the house. 

After dinner, I walked with some friends to see the highest 
waterfall I ever heard of, called ' Cuatskill,' which is, I suppose, 
the same as Catskill. The word ' skill' or 'gill' originates in a 
Dutch name ; and Clove (as they here call a pass beyond) I have 
little doubt, has its origin in ' Kloof.' The ' Cuatskill' pours 
down its stream two hundred feet into a deep rocky dell. It is a 
much higher fall than the Staubach, in Switzerland, and the sur- 
rounding scenery is as picturesque, though without the high 
Swiss mountains. The water makes another leap of eighty feet a 
little farther on. 

Monday morning, I again went out before sunrise, and again 

no sun was visible. At six o'clock, the clergyman, Mr. W , 

accompanied me to see fine masses of conglomerate rock upon the 
Southern Mountain beyond our hotel, and at seven we took our 
departure through a deep pass, resembling some of those in our 
Highlands of Scotland. By a circuitous route, the plain below 
our hotel was reached, and the house was seen upon the edge of 
the precipice above us. A ferry-boat made its passage from the 
small town of Catskill across the North Eiver, to meet the cars 
from Albany, which conveyed our party to New York. 

August 28. — I attended the Educational Convention, where 
an excellent farewell address was delivered by Bache, the retiring 
President. He dwelt forcibly upon the great existing necessity 
for universities — not mere buildings of stone, or schools for youth 
— but assemblages of learned men — cosmopolitan institutions; 
places where men not learned may become so ; places where real 
talent may be fostered, and where scientific information can be 
found by all who earnestly and diligently seek it, — centres from 
which all knowledge, theological, mathematical, historical, scien- 
tific, &c. &c., may radiate to the remotest corners of this vast 
country, and imbue the hearts and minds of the great American 



EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 871 

people with something which shall direct and balance the influ- 
ence of the ahnighiy dollar. The Bishop of Pennsylvania joined 
the evening exercise, when a paper was read by Professor Tap- 
pan, of Michigan, on the ' Eeiation of Common Schools and 
Colleges.' 

Wednesday, August 29. — An excellent lecture was given by 
the Rev. E. B. Huntingdon, principal of the public school, Stam- 
ford, Connecticut, on ' Mental and Physical Activity.' In the 
evening the Rev. F. B. Huntingdon, Professor of Moral Philoso- 
phy at Cambridge University, made a most original and striking 
address on ' Unconscious Tuition ; ' fine in language, attractive in 
delivery, and very practical in matter, although permeated 
thi-oughout by poetical feeling. He touched even upon the ill 
effects of the want of refined habits, and the absence of gentle- 
manly bearing, in those who instruct, and forcibly pointed out 
how ugly tricks and coarse manners corrupt and debase the young 
placed under their influence. He said — ' The teacher who sits in 
his chair with feet placed higher than his head, who munches ap- 
ples and nuts like a monkey, and even sends forth American 
saliva — like a member of Congress ! in all these acts is uncon- 
sciously losing the respect of his pupils, and exercising an evil in- 
fluence over their character.' How true it is, that the most elo- 
quent and accomplished orator has little permanent influence when 
we feel, perhaps without being able to explain, the effects of a 
screw loose in his moral character ; perhaps there is selfishness, 
an absence of honesty, a seeking for applause, a something we 
know not what — we have never been told ; but unconsciously, 
while we admire the talents of the orator, we refuse him our sym- 
pathy. Unconsciously his character tells upon our minds — ^he is 
no thorough man, and we feel it. 

Thursday, August 30. — After attending the Educational 
Meeting in the morning, I spent the rest of the day with a party 
of friends on Staten Island. It reminds me of the Isle of Wight, 
but New York and North River, with their innumerable bays and 
creeks and islands, form a more varied and beautiful scene than 
the Southampton River, and the coast of Hampshire. It requires 



872 EAST RIVER. 

half an hour to cross over by steam ; the island itself is pictur- 
esque, and well-wooded : there is a particularly pretty view from 
a villa belonging to Mr. Cunard. Staaten is sixteen miles in 
length. I have at last found, in one of the State reports from 
Texas, some mention of 'horned frogs' (Plirysonomas)^ there are 
two or three species to be found in Texas and Mexico ; mine was 
Phrysonoma cornuta. The Phrysonomas are true saurians ; their 
bodies, instead of being smooth like frogs and toads, are covered 
with scales ; they never hop or leap as batrachians, but run very 
fast like spiders. Their upper spines are as large as miniature 
horns of a gazelle. (I saw at Providence a little stuffed deer 
from Japan, not much larger than a kitten, and with horns hardly 
more considerable than those of a Phrysonoma.) They are sin- 
gular creatures, and give one the idea of being stragglers left 
behind by one of the extinct races ; the surface of their bodies is 
covered with scales, and there is a double abdominal row, quite 
prickly. 

August 31. — The Canada has brought favourable news from 
England, which I am inclined to believe will be received with satis- 
faction by the best minds in the United States, for Russo tenden- 
cies lie merely on the surface. Some of my friends went away 
early, and I only attended the Convention to hear Professor 
Barnard, of the Mississippi University, upon the improvements 
that may be introduced into American colleges. 

During my stay in New York, I have taken one trip of fifty 
miles down what is called the East Kiver. It is rather a narrow 
arm of the sea, extending above a hundred miles, forming Long 
Island : it passes with a rapid current through the narrow passage 
called Hellgate, where once an English ship was wrecked. The 
river is there divided by llandall Island, which I last year visited 
with Governor Seymour to see all the penitentiaries and charitable 
institutions. 

September ord. — I spent some time in the Astor Library, where 
I looked over some of Agassiz' publications, and the beautiful Zoo- 
logical work of Dana. In the evening a friend took me to see Ra- 
chel's first American appearance as Camille. Seventeen years ago, 



I 



AMERICAN CRYSTAL PALACE. 373 

I witnessed her London dtbht in the same character. I think her 
experience, and a longer cultivation of art, do not improve upon 
the first and natural expression of genius. She is more cultivated, 
but she cannot touch the heart now as she touched the hearts in 
the year 1838. She was well received by a crowded house, and 
the little Comedie of Les Droits de V Homme^ by Premanoy, was 
vv^ell acted ; three sisters of Rachel's performing all the female 
characters. 

September ith. — I visited the remains of the American Crystal 
Palace to see part of a Californian mammoth tree (Red-wood), 
described by Mr. Blake at Providence. The grandeur and sin- 
gularity of this trunk surpassed my expectations, the trees must 
appear as much larger than cedars, as cedars exceed hawthorns in 
size. Some articles still remain in this Crystal Palace, which is 
now the property of Barnum ; the building itself, though so much 
smaller than Paxton's, is less simple in ornament, and loses in 
effect from being too elaborate. I intend to proceed to-morrow 
in the direction of Lake George and Ticonderoga : in that neigh- 
bourhood I am to be joined by Governor Seymour, who promises 
to guide me through part of the Adirondack, that Highland dis- 
trict of New York State, still a wild forest, although it is as ex- 
tensive as the whole State of Massachusetts. It is principally 
frequented by sportsmen for the sake of the game and fish, which 
have been as yet but little disturbed. When we were at Ogdens- 
burgh we almost touched that territory, which is partly bounded 
by the St. Lawrence. The streets of New York are much shaded 
in some places by Ailanthus glandulosa, and as most of them are 
now flowering, or producing their key-like tassels, they look very 
pretty. I have not detected the disagreeable odour which they 
are accused of emitting, nor have I heard of any poisonous in- 
fluence from them, but perhaps something of that kind may be 
discovered later in the season. This letter shall be sent from here 
by post now ; perhaps the beauties of Lake George may induce 
me to begin another. 

Yours aTectionately, 

A. M. M. 



'mmmmmmm^ 







LETTER XXIX. 



Saratoga, N, Y,, ) 
September 5, 1S55. ] 

My dear Friends, — 

I did not imagine that my next letter would date from 
this place, but imperative circumstances determined that it should 
be so. We left New York by six o'clock this morning, under the 
supposition that we were to reach Lake George before night ; but 
though we were at Troy at eleven, all calculation was thrown out 
by information that no train could take us on till six ; we were 
not told that by going back to Albany, another line might for- 
ward us sooner ; this one had been impeded by an incendiary, 
who had fired a railroad-bridge, about twenty miles from this 
place. Having once before visited Troy and made acquaintances 
there, I walked into the town. All the families I knew were 
still away on summer tours, a custom nearly universal here in 
cities ; people having usually no country places, take to the coun- 
try at large. However, I was so fortunate as to find some friends 
accidentally at Troy, who afi"orded me shelter, a warm bath, and 
some dinner, and kindly walked back with me to the station at 
the hour of departure. Precisely at six, the train left Troy, but 
the one hour (usually time enough for reaching Saratoga) waa 
lengthened into three ; for at the river, which was to be crossed, 
passengers, luggage, and all, had to be transferred into a large 
ferry-boat ; and it was necessary to carry weighty boxes up the 
steep bank of our railway track on the opposite side — a slow pro- 
cess. So we had two hours of travel after dark ; and I at onco 



SARATOGA. 375 

determined to sleep at the United States' Hotel, at JSai-atoga. 
Spiteful mischief is too often perpetrated on the railroad tracks. 
Last year a train of cars, upon which I went in the night from 
Niagara to Canandaigua, was thrown off by the abstraction of a 
few feet of rail ; and the other day several lives were sacrificed 
by the same thing having been done. I have heard lately of two 
other bridges having been intentionally set on fire ; and these 
fiendish acts are rarely followed by detection. What can be too 
bad for wretches who thus unmercifully destroy unoffending peo- 
ple, out of some feeling of individual spite ! But we may be sure 
that fear and remorse will ultimately persecute and haunt such 
men, until they yearn to end their miserable lives by that rope 
they may for the present escape. 

Saratoga, Tuesday morning. — It is as well that I have been 
obliged to stop at this place, so much spoken of, though watering- 
places afford small attraction to me. Upon getting up this morn- 
ing, however, I can see nothing from windows looking in two 
directions, but one maple tree imprisoned in a small court ; and 
young maples, set as thick as pines, edging angular walks, and 
dotting some green and well-shaven turf, in a square enclosed on 
three sides by this hotel. The air feels cold and October-like. 
I think thermometers range more widely and vary more sudden- 
ly than in England : one very cold day succeeds an intensely hot 
one ; and then, perhaps, we have two hot ones again ; and the 
nights are usually cold at this time of the year ; sometimes even 
frosty. I already see a brilliant colouring of foliage, which shows 
the leaves have been touched by frost. 

Lake George, September 6. — I left Saratoga by the early 
train ; one hour's morning walk being enough to give me some 
idea of a place which is a ruralized Baden-Baden, or Homburg, 
or Schwalbad, or any other had — I dare say a pleasant resort for 
people who seek only fresh air and disagreeable water, and num- 
berless acquaintances. It resembles German baths, with rather 
less gambling, more dancing, and more dressing ; and I was de 
lighted to get away from such annoyances, to this charming lake, 
and to find myself in an hotel quite homelike. A coach brought 



376 LAKE GEORGE. 

US the last fourteen miles ; we came by Glen's Falls, where the 
water rushes finely, iu spite of lumber and saw-mills, down a 
descent of seventy or eighty feet ; then we passed a place called 
' Bloody Pond,' the battle of Lake George having been fought 
near, in 1755. You may remember, this engagement was between 
Sir W. Johnson, aided by Hendrick, the Mohawk chief, and the 
French general Dieskau, with his Canadian Indians. Now we are 
among the very scenes depicted in The Last of the Mohicaiis. 
Cooper calls this lovely lake, Horican (Transparent Water) ; 
I believe he confessed it was a supposititious Indian name ; but I 
cannot find out any other given to it by the Aborigines. The 
French appellation was St. Sacrament; that of the English, Lake 
George ; and both historical and local associations now confirm it. 
I am at an original hotel, called a Lake House ; much pleas- 
anter and less staring than a new place, built in a beautiful situa- 
tion at the southern end, ' The William Henry Hotel.' Here I 
do not feel as if I was at a place of public resort, though the 
house contains a large number of guests. It has easy access to 
the water from a lawn, for bathing, fishing, or boating, and bowl- 
ing and billiards may be enjoyed by those who wish for them. I 
find pleasant families here who do not make gay attire and good 
dinners the first objects of life. Horican (Transparent Water), 
that was a characteristic name ! Lake George unites the beau- 
ties of Loch Lomond, Windermere, and Wenham ' Pond ; ' and is 
as beautiful as any lake I know, excepting that its mountains, 
though fine, are not so rugged as some of our Highlands. It is 
wide enough, without the shores being too distant from each other; 
the water has, in many places, a depth of one hundred and twenty 
feet. It empties itself into Lake Champlain, near Ticonderoga ; 
so called from Checonderoga, an Iroquois word, signifying ' sound- 
ing waters,' on account of the noise made by the water rushing 
from Lake George. The Last of the Mohicans has made this 
neighbourhood doubly interesting. Yesterday we had a gay and 
touching celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the victory 
gained by the British and Americans over the French, in Septem- 
ber, 1755. My own maternal grandfather led his Highland regi- 



TICONDEROGA. 



377 



ment during the conflict of those days ; and this commemoration 
was one which enlisted my sympathies. Cxcntlemen and ladies 
walked in two separate processions to the church, where, after a 
short prayer Dr. Van Renssalaer gave a detailed historical account 
of the events of 1755, and the years succeeding. After firing ofi 
cannon, there was a beautiful array of boats, decorated with flags ; 
most of them had only one lady in the stern ; mine carried the 
English ensign. Mrs. Potter had the Scotch thistle. English 
and French flags waved in union on this occasion, and the band 
played God save the Queen, with other airs. There were about 
twenty-four boats marshalled in line upon the lake, or sweeping 
along in succession, at the command of a Commodore. The scene 
was very gay upon the beautiful waters ; and, when night camo 
on, the darkness was illuminated by a liberal display of rockets 
and Roman candles. A subscription was proposed for raising a 
monument on the old battle-field to the heroes who fell there, 
particularly the gallant Indian chief, Hendrick ; and I hope the 
object will be accomplished. 

September 10. — I went with a party in a steamer twenty 
miles up the lake to Ticonderoga, which is a small town on the 
Lake George side of the fort. There are still ditches and fortifi- 
cations which mark the battle-field. Sixteen hundred British 
were killed in that engagement.* The fort is situated on a pen- 
insula, which runs into Lake Champlain : it is a beautiful site, 
commanded by a mountain which has been named Defiance. The 
rest of our party went to dine at an hotel near, but I remained 
for two or three hours, sketching and wandering about the fortifi- 
cations, which are very extensive. This is the only interesting 
ruin I have seen in America. 

September 12. — Yesterday, in my way here, I stopped for an 
hour or two at the hotel to wait for a steamer. The landlord 
took so great an interest in a sketch of the fort, which I made 
from a window in his house, that he would not hear of my paying 

• 

* The French entangled them among the branches of felled trees, so that 
their forces were scattered and destroyed. 



878 GIPSY EXPEDITION. 

either for mj own dinner or R 's; the only repayment he 

would accept was a hasty copy of my drawing. 

At Westport I was fortunate in finding Mr. H. L , who 

drove me up to see his pretty cottage, situated upon a rock which 
commands a splendid view. While I was absent this morning, 
Governor Seymour arrived with his niece, and he has gone on to 
Elizabeth Town, to make necessary arrangements for our camping 
out of town in the Adirondack. We are to join him at an early 
hour to-morrow morning. Weather promises to be favourable, 
and the black fly has vanished, so that we have every prospect 
of enjoying our gipsy expedition. 

September 12. — We started before six o'clock, and joined Mr. 
Seymour at Elizabeth Town. We met Professor Baird, who is 

staying there, and Mr. H , one of our corapagnons de voyage. 

We set off after making backwood arrangements, and selecting 
kettles and pans. Tea, biscuits, lemons, portable soup, and ar- 
row-root went into small space ; these, with trout and venison, 
will feed us nobly for a week. Branches of the hemlock spruce 
with waterproof coverings, duvets, blankets, and air-cushions will 
form our couches ; and our Governor carries a tent in case of wet 
weather. We reached the Saranac Lake about an hour after 
dark, conveyed by buck-boards and wagons — much too civilized a 
mode of proceeding ; but we go on in boats or on foot, and hope 
to travel more than a hundred miles with packs on our backs and 
staffs in our hands — this will be delightful ! On our way yester- 
day, we passed through fine passes and grand mountains. I made 
one sketch in which Tahawas ' the cloud splitter,' was included. 
We thought ourselves unhappy at sleeping in the little Saranac 
hotel last night, though it was three in a room, constructed of 
rough boards and laths ; still this will be the last time for some 
days we shall have any other canopy than heaven, and the small 
tent which is to be carried with us. Our drive from Elizabeth 
Town to this place was about thirty-two miles ; the road rough, 
bui practicable by walking up the steepest parts. In our way 
we picked a variety of wild fruits, blackberries, huckleberries, 
cherries, and above all, a little red plum, which though rather 



8ARANAC LAKE. 879 

hard and acid, I thongbt would make a good pudding at our 
first camp in the woods ; so I got enough for that purpose. It 
was quite dark for an hour before we reached Baker's — the name 
by which this last house of reception on the Saranac River is 
known. We had no other difficulty, however, than making our 
way once nearly into a shed, instead of following the road, and 
after backing out, our proposed resting-place was soon reached. 

While the party were putting up, I parted with E , and 

sent her back in the carriage to embark again in the steamboat 
to Westport. She will go round by Utica to Canandaigua, to 
give Mrs. Seymour a report of us so far ; and I shall pick her up 
again at the latter place, where she will remain with our hospitable 

friends, Mr. and Mrs. G . Miss M and Mr. S walked 

on a mile or two to the lake side, and left Mr. H and one 

guide to accompany me, after I had made a sketch of the place 
and surrounding mountains from a hill above. On the edge of 
Saranac Lake we found a small house, three boats, and various 
articles prepared for forest expeditions. One boat was set apart 
for two dogs, guns, and baggage, taken care of by one Jamie 
M'Cleland, who had enough of Scotch recollections to induce him 
to look with a pleased expression at one of my name. 

Mr. Moody, the iiead guide, rowed the boat, in which I had a 
comfortable seat of cloaks and cushions, with the Governor. Miss 

M , his niece, and Mr. H , were conducted by a fine 

youth of nineteen, who goes by the name of ' Prince Albert,' and 
it is believed he was so christened at two years old, though he 
looked shy and annoyed when asked about it, and said he believed 
it was ' Pliny Albert.' The weather was perfect, as we rowed 
along the beautiful Saranac Lake. For the first time I saw the 
Loon, and heard it utter its wild cry, more resembling a mocking 
laugh than anything else. I could have fancied it saying, ' You 
intruders, you — you will have enough of me before you have 
done.' A fine eagle next soared over our heads, and ravens also. 

We floated on water as smooth as glass, passing by lovely 
islands and fine rocks, until we came to the first rapid, an inlet 
into the next lake, where we disembarked, that the men might 



380 



OUR FIRST ENCAMPMENT. 



carry and pusli througb their boats. I sketched during this opera- 
tion, while Mr. S mended the slight terminal pole of his 

fishing-rod, which an accident had broken ; then we proceeded to 
a small * round lake,' prettily set among the mountains, but very 
shallow, the rushes and Lilypods growing plentifully over it. 
Now we had a portage. Each man carried a boat on his head, 

and we loaded ourselves with as much as we could carry. M ■ 

and I filled my Scotch plaid with baskets and bundles, and we bore 
it between us. The distance was short, but it was above an hour 
*l3efore we were again afloat in the Upper Saranac, at the end of 
which our first encampment was to be made. Upon landing, we 
chose a pretty spot ; the guides hastily built up a great log fire. 
I gathered up some brush and fir-cones to help the blaze, and we 
broke ofi" small branches (or ' feathers ') of the hemlock spruce, 
which makes the sweetest and best foundation for an Alpine 
couch in this country — sweeter than, if not so pretty as our 
heather. Over this the Governor spread a thin oilskin. My air- 
cushions were the most valuable ; we puffed them up, and with 
these, my leather bag as a bolster, large plaids and felt coverings, 

and Mary M 's black and scarlet shawl as a curtain of division, 

we, two ladies, and two gentlemen, slept soundly, after making a 
hearty supper off trout and potatoes. I had provided a dozen 
lemons, aware that when no milk can be had, the juice is an excel- 
lent addition to tea, and this plan was unanimously approved. To 
our guides the idea was quite new ; and, as all forest fare is com- 
mon pot-luck, they were quite pleased. ' It isn't bad,' — * Right 
fine, I'll assure you ; ' but the first sentence implies almost as high 
praise as ' It won't hurt you ; ' and that is the acme. I concocted 
my pudding with the wild-plums, deprived of their stones, biscuit, 
brown sugar, a little butter, and some water ; but, as some hours' 
stewing was necessary, this dish was not produced before our 
breakfast. One of the boats was turned upside down for a table ; 
our candlesticks, a large potato placed upon a tin pail inverted. 
The guides bivouacked close around the little tent. About half- 
past two o'clock, according to a common habit in the forests, we 
all roused up for half-an-hour, replenished the fire, and I removed 



GOOD FISHING. 381 

my stew to a little fire of its own, that it might not get quite 
etewed away before morning. We then again composed ourselves 
to sleep again, and had comfortahle naps till daylight. During 
the night I heard a horrible noise once or twice, and, imagining 
it might be the howl of a wolf, I called to Moody, who assured 
me it was nothing but a screech-owl. At five o'clock began pre- 
parations for breakfast — frying pork, broiling trout and potatoes, 
and water for the kettle of tea ; at last, trout were broiled in the 
same pan with the pork gravy, an excellent dish. We two ladies 
went down to the lake to make our toilet, and balanced ourselves 
in one of the empty boats, to use tooth-brushes, &c. While the 
rest of the party were packing up, and preparing to undertake the 
portage to Story Greek, I made a sketch before the tent was 
struck, and caught one of the men in the act of carrying the boat, 
with his head concealed underneath, like some nondescript shell- 
fish. 

Before we started, the gentlemen hung a small mirror of 

M 's on a tree, and very composedly shaved themselves. The 

guides took the boats upon their heads, and after two returns they 
transported all the baggage the rest of the party could not carry 
through two miles of difficult portage. Then we reached the 
Otter's Creek and Raquette River, where at last, at the junction 
of the streams, there was such good fishing, that a long pause 
ensued. The trout were large and plentiful. The Governor 

caught several, weighing from two to three pounds. Mr. H 

lost two of his best ; one owing to his young boatman, and the 
other owing to his own hurry in pulling up his prize. I landed 
to sketch the scenery, and was so much absorbed as to leave my 
parasol in a bush. We rowed back half a mile for its recovery ; 
however, Mr. Moody took this trouble without a murmur, and 

Mr. S having extremely enjoyed his sport, I believe he was 

rather pleased to take another look at that pleasant locality. We 
did not again join the other boats until our arrival at the next 
rapids, where we were obliged to resign ourselves to another te- 
dious portage ; but the row down Raquette River had been de- 
lightful — it flows through a deep forest of maples, pines, and 



382 



DEER HUNTI?,'G. 



tamarisks ; the crimson tints of autumn blending with dark and 
orange foliage, tiny seedling red maples dotting the rocks and the 
bogs ; the cardinal flower, blue 'gentian, and lilac asters occasion- 
ally showing themselves; but through this whole region, the 
autumnal flora has not a great deal of variety. I gathered some 
berries of a Rhamnus, saw very large leaved willows and species 
of Vaccinium (one very good indeed) ; the scarlet berries of C an- 
nas Canadensis everywhere enlivened the forest ; and there were 
also the white Partridge berry, bright trillium seeds, and the large 
and small wintergreen, Gaubtheria procumbens. 

Now and then the starry flowers of Houstonias lingered on 
the ground, and raspberries and low blackberries refreshed us on 
our way — these, with the exception of white and yellow Nymphoss, 
called by the people ' Lilypods,' were all I saw of flowers or seeds. 
Peer feed much on these lilypods early in the season, and as they 
come down to the rivers and lakes in search of their tender shoots, 
they fall an easy prey at that period ; but now they feed upon 
higher ground, so dogs are sent off who hunt out a single one, and 
chase him down to any part of the lakes, where they are loosed ; 
there they keep him in the water, and by their baying call their 
masters to finish the chase. Our gentlemen were not successful 
in shooting any, because, owing to the long distance we had to 
travel through this wilderness (about one hundred and fifty miles), 
the mornings could not be spared for hunting ; and although two 
attempts were made by despatching the hounds in the afternoon, 
they did not bring their game back until too dark for even the 
accustomed to get a shot. Maple and birch are considered the 
best wood with which to build a fire : the common distinguishing 
phrase is 'hard and soft wood.' Hard is applied to deciduous 
trees, soft to the pines and evergreens. ' How finely the soft and 
hard trees are mixed on that mountain,' said one of our party. 

Upon landing below the Raquette Falls, we had a mile and a 
half of difficult portage : the signs of a trail were at times hardly 
visible ; gigantic timber felled by storms, or by time, crossed the 
obscure path, sometimes every twenty yards ; deep bogs, and slip- 
pery rocks impeded it, and we had often to retrace our steps, or 



OUR TOILET. 588 

seek a blazed tree before we could find our way ; each individual 
of the party straggled on as he or she could, with their loads. 

Vv'^hen Mr. S had conveyed his to the edge of the river above 

the Fails, he kindly returned to relieve me of whatever basket or 
bundle I had been able to carry ; and so we all at last reached 
our intended camping place, a beautiful spot. Our tent was soon 
pitched, a bright fire in front of it wast lit, just at the edge of the 
water, and another blaze for cooking, made near to our boat-table. 
The largest trout were boiled, the smaller ones broiled, with ex- 
cellent potatoes, for our supper ; tea-lemonade our beverage. As 
an awakening amusement for an hour afterwards, we played a game 
of whist, with a not very white pack of cards, procured from one 
of the guides; and then after arranging our couch as before, we 
slept very soundly till after one o'clock, when the fires were made 
up, and then we slept again till morning ; not a sound disturbed 
the forest, except that of the rippling waters at our feet ; but 
when we awoke at six, a gentle rain pattered upon the surround- 
ing trees. However, it was no more than ' the pride of the morn- 
ing,' just enough to make us more sensible of the blessing of fine 

weather. M. M selected a sheltered rocky nook, a little way 

back for our dressing-room ; there we bathed, and adjusted our 
toilet with brushes, combs, tooth-brushes, a luxury of towels, and 
even a tiny mirror hung upon the lowest branch of a fine hemlock 
spruce ; this smartening up of the individual woman marked our 
Sunday morning, for no Sabbath-day's rest can be set- apart for 
travellers in the Bush, who must get to their journey's end by 
a certain day, or go without the common necessaries of existence. 
We came forth again arrayed in cleanliness : its opposite is at times 
picturesque, but certainly not comfortable. On the whole, I was 
impressed by the tidy habits of our three guides ; they omitted 
no opportunity for using the fresh pure water to wash away im- 
purities, either on their hands or upon our culinary matters, and 
never left cup or platter in a soiled state, if they could help it. 

Before our starting, the Governor rowed me over to the opposite 
shore for a sketch of our resting-place. A few miles further up 
tho Kaq^uette River some of our party saw the track of a wolf, 



884 LONG LAKE. 

and we heard tlie partridge drum : this noise is caused by the 
\ving of that bird, which in plumage is like ours, but in size it 
comes nearer to our pheasant. Wild-ducks appeared numerous, 
but they kept at a distance. Now again we got sight of distant 
mountains ; of late, the forests and swamps have been low and 
flat. The approach to Long Lake is so thickly covered with 
lilypocls, rushes, and other water-plants, that it seemed as if we 
were making our way across watery meadows. When we reached 
the lake itself, the wind blew freshly, and our boatmen had to 
row eighteen miles against it and the wavelets which arose. Oc- 
casional settlements dot the shores : a boy of ten years old pad- 
dled his little boat towards us, and when we asked him if many 
people lived there, he answered, ' There is the baby, and a few 
more.' Evidently, that baby was the individual of most impor- 
tance. We again saw wild-ducks, an eagle, a guJl, and a loon ; 
and at one spot (a rare sight in this wilderness) two small wagons 
were waiting to be transported across the lake. 

A Mr. and Mrs. Carey, with a family of young children, pos- 
sessing cows and horses, and a house in the background, lived 
just behind the rocky knoll where we decided upon forming our 
encampment — under some tall pine-trees : they supplied us with 
excellent milk and bread and butter, an unaccustomed luxury, 
and also with some straw for our beds. Mrs. Carey, a pleasing 
young woman, visited us with a present of blackberries after sup- 
per. The ' Owl's Head' was a prominent mountain beyond, and 
a young crescent moon arose not far above it. In the morning we 
had some fine rain ; but with the aid of my large umbrella, I did 
not miss a sketch of our camp : and the palmetto fly-llapper I had 
brought all the way from Mobile proved of great use in frighten- 
ing away mosquitoes. Alas ! I afterwards lost it during one of 
the portages. Here it was decided to leave one boat. Mr. Ca- 
rey was to convey the chief guide with a second one in a wagon, 
a cross-cut through the woods ; and we all packed into the remain- 
ing boat, as there was some probable difiiculty in getting through 
rapids and portages. The guns and dogs having both been con- 
veyed to the land carriage, whole flights of ducks passed fearlessly 



A VARIETY OF FUNGUSES. 385 

within shot, as if they had by some means become aware of their 
security. After two or three portages, fatiguing and difficult- 
enough, the men determined to attempt pushing the boat through 
the last rapid. Now touching one rock, now fast upon another, 
the water rushing by, I did not think the adventure a pleasant 
one; at last we came to a dead lock. Jamie M'Cleland proposed 

that Governor Seymour and Mr. H should jump upon a 

rock, water-surrounded as it was, and by so lightening the boat, 
we were with difficulty floated up to a landing : here we quickly 
heard Moody's whoop, and he came up with a partridge he had 
killed during his progress by land : and soon the whole party was 
again mustered, for our gentlemen had waded on shore from their 
rock and thus rejoined us. This day we saw the track of a moose- 
deer on the edge of a stream; plenty of tracks and signs of 
smaller deer : one or two solitary cranes, and a bald-headed eagle. 
It was muddy walking ; we were thoroughly bespattered, but Ja- 
mie endeavoured to console us by the assurance that he had * seen 
women looking much worse.' 

In these forests, the variety of funguses is beyond description; 
some, just like beautiful white coral. Many were, in form and 
substance, quite different from any drawings or models I have 
seen; the colours scarlet, orange, pink, pure white, black, drab, and 
rose ; and bunches of that odd monotropa, the Indian pipe, con- 
stantly fringed our path. It seems to me that there is something 
nourishing in the air of these Alpine forests : I never felt very 
hungry, although our meals were far apart, and usually very light 
in substance. As we rowed down the Eaquette Lake, I observed 
a yellow sunset, with heaped-up clouds to the south, and a sus- 
picion crossed my mind that stormy weather was brewing. At a 
rough clearing, our guides pulled up. A shanty belonging to a 
Mr. Beech was not a great way off, and, oddly enough, there was 
another clearing on the opposite shore of the lake, owned by a 
Mr. Wood. 

Our tent was pitched on a cleared spot, near where a famous 
eagle once had his eyrie upon a tall pine ; both pine and eagle 
are gone— the latter died, and the former was blown down. Some 
X7 



386 A STORMY NIGHT. 

dried venison was procured, and a neighbour provided milk. Wo 
composed ourselves to rest, and slept till midnight ; then growl- 
ing thunder, vivid lightning, and pouring rain disturbed our slum- 
bers. A wet morning followed, and any intention of striking our 
tent was abandoned. It was a violent storm — probably an equi- 
noctial gale. We had only to be patient and enduring, with the 
conviction that ' Time and the hours run through the roughest 
day.' 

In the afternoon the weather cleared, and wc went by the lake 
to visit Mr. and Mrs. Beech, while the gentlemen and the guides 
went off hunting. But their dogs did not immediately find, and 
again, it was too dark to shoot a deer which was hunted down to 
the water. The ladies returned to our tent, and as I had a 
reserved provision of arrowroot, I determined to make a largo 
kettleful, flavoured with lemons and molasses, adding to it a por- 
tion of Malaga, and putting in biscuits. This made a comforting 
warm mess for the cold and tired hunters upon their return. 

After the violent rain of last night and to-day, we found our 
hemlock spruce beds rather damp, although the guides had turned 
the tent so as to face a large fire, and accommodate it to a change 
of wind. In spite of all the wet, however, no colds were caught, 
and early on the 20th of September we embarked again on the 
lake in high spirits. The guides had stowed themselves under 
one of the boats during the night, which perhaps sheltered them 
even more completely than our tent did us. 

During this last pause in our wanderings, we could not help 
being struck by the wild, careless, picturesque appearance inside 
that tent. Seated upon the floor, where we were taking our meals, 
with pans of tea, and plates of tin, air-cushions, and variously 
coloured plaids and felts scattered around ; sketch-books and 
presses, books and maps ; a large tin case, containing our store of 
grocery, a huge basket full of biscuits, a hammer ensconced 
among bunches of berries ; tallow candles, under protection from 
the damp, towels, hats, bonnets, and other articles of attire im- 
partially scattered ; accidentally bestowed touches of scarlet and 
blue upon the interior, lit up as it was by the warm glow of a 



THE EIGHT LAKES. 



887 



blazing wood fire — this would have formed a picture for Gerard 
Dow. 

I forgot to say we ate Mr. Moody's partridge for breakfast, 
and it proved excellent. I did not omit to sketch this encamp- 
ment before we left it. As we rowed up the Raquette Lake, a 
slight snow-storm overtook us, but it was soon over. Even during 
that early morning, with its fog and snow, the lake was beautiful, 
with numerous bays and islands, and blue mountains rising in the 
distance. We passed through a narrow channel for some way, 
then disembarked for a portage to the eighth lake of the Eckford 
chain ; for eight lakes of differing magnitude are strung upon the 
Moose River, and we were to pass through all. We now found 
a sandy beach which before had been rocky. The cheerful little 
crossbill hopped fearlessly around us, and wild-ducks flew away. 
After rowing across the eighth, another portage brought us to 
the seventh lake. There was some difficulty in pushing the boats 
over a sandy bar at its entrance from the narrow stream we had 
just traversed. The seventh lake is quite encircLed by hills. 
We observed a tempting rocky promontory, and as the sun was 
getting low, we decided upon landing upon a pretty sheltered 
beach behind it. 

Our tent was pitched behind a gigantic fallen tree, against 
which the fire was made : it served as a convenient table for our 
cooking operations, as well as a good back for the blaze. I made 
a can of excellent portable soup, a provision we had before tried 
with success ; but now I added a little arrowroot, an onion, pota- 
toes, two or three spoonsful of sweet wine, and several biscuits. 
It was generally agreed that this mixture ' would not hurt any- 
body ; ' indeed it might anywhere have been considered an excel- 
lent soup. 

I found a quarter of a pound of portable soup, or a quarter 
of a pound of arrowroot necessary to make the quantity sufficient 
for seven hungry bodies. Although I brought these things with 
me from England more than a year ago, they were in good preser- 
vation ; and I recommend London portable soup to all travellers 
in the Bush, and advise them also to add lemons and a good store 



388 MODERN MIRANDAS. 

of sugar, brown and white, to their other preparations. We had 
a bright moon this evening. Some hunters and fishers were upon 
the lake, and from the latter our people procured trout, and all 
enjoyed this camp particularly, even though no deer were at- 
tained. We had a misty morning, but the mountain tops soon 
peered out. We again embarked, and passed from one lake into 
others, sometimes by such narrow outlets that there was a diffi- 
culty in finding them, until at the last our boatmen rowed twice a 
considerable distance before a swampy-looking egress was dis- 
covered : this led us into a pretty winding creek, and another 
short portage brought us below the falls of the Moose River into 
its rapid stream. Here we had only one boat. The Governor 
(for our other gentlemen had been obliged to leave us before we 
entered the chain of lakes) walked on to make some arrangements 
at Arnold's Farm, and we two ladies, in charge of Mr. Moody 
and M'Cleland, had a pleasant row, seeing many canvas-back 
ducks before us in the river. The former shot one, which I have 
no doubt would have been very good for dinner, but we never had 
any time or opportunity for trying the experiment. Mr. Seymour 
remained to make arrangements with the guides, while his niece 
and I walked on to Arnold's Farm. There we found Mrs. Arnold 
and six daughters. These girls, aged from twelve to twenty, were 
placed in a row against one wall of the shanty, with looks so ex- 
pressive of astonishment, that I felt puzzled to account for their 
manner, till their mother informed us they had never before seen 
any other woman than herself ! I could not elicit a word from 
them ; but, at last, when I begged for a little milk, the eldest 
went and brought me a glass. I then remembered that we had 
met a single hunter rowing himself in a skiff on the Moose River, 
who called out, ' Where on the 'arth do they women come from ? ' 
And our after-experience fully explained why ladies are rare 
birds in that locality. At this place we expected to find horses, 
but owing to our twenty-four hours' detention on Raquette Lake, 
they had been sent off to bring up some gentlemen from Brown's 
Tract; pedestrianism was therefore our only resource. Jamie 
M'Cleland came up from the river, and explained that unless we 



* NECESSITY HAS NO LAW.* 889 

made some further progress this evening, we should not be able 
to get through the forest during daylight to-morrow, and delay 
was of importance, so we decided upon trudging on as far as pos- 
sible. Jamie took the tent on his back, and Mr. Seymour and 
the other guides were to follow as soon as they could select posi- 
tive necessaries from our baggage. Mrs. Arnold was furious — 
she did all but try to detain us by force — declared we could not 
get on, and that she should soon see us back again ; but necessity 
has no law : we felt the importance of determination, and we had 
become too experienced gipsies to fear camping out. For one 
mile we had a pleasant path, then commenced the series of bog- 
holes vrhich, with few and short intervals, were to be scrambled 
through for sixteen miles. The worst was, that as night closed 
in, we could not find a dry spot upon which to pitch our tent- 
At last we sent Jamie on, and he brought us the news that, at a 
short distance he had found a little knoll above the bogs. 

Dark as it was, we reached this spot, without any other mis- 
hap than an occasional flounder in the mud ; but all the lumber 
around was soaking wet. No fire could be made till our guide 
had cut down a tree — for he had not forgotten his axe ; and his 
experienced arm soon felled a birch of considerable size, cut it in 
logs about two yards long, and so built up a fire, which we assisted 
in lighting, by breaking off dry brush from the surrounding bush. 
Jamie worked hard ; and before Mr. Seymour and the other 
guides joined us with exclamations of astonishment how we had 
ever got through the places which had nearly swamped them, the 
tent was raised, hemlock branches gathered, and a good fire blazed 
all ready for cooking operations. The young moon occasionally 
peeped through the foliage above our heads ; but it was too thick 
for^much light to be visible. Our only misfortune at that mo- 
ment was the suS'erings of poor young Prince Albert, who lay 
upon the ground agonized and quite useless. We gave him what 
comfort we could ; and I administered camphor, which soothed 
the pain, and enabled him to get asleep. Our head guide told 
me he knew the value of that substance in most cases of slight 
illness ; and that he seldom went into the forest unprovided with 
some of it. 



890 DEPARTURE OF THE GUIDES. 

Before daylight next morning we again aroused ourselves. 
Fortunately sufficient portable soup and arrowroot was still left 
to make a good warm mess for breakfast ; and this nourishment 
is so lasting, that, with the exception of half a biscuit and some 
water, I got on upon it till we reached our resting place at Bon- 
ville, after nine in the evening. At this encampment, we parted 
from our three guides, who had conducted themselves excellently 
well through all our difficulties. Jamie, a Canadian, was going 
back to take his young wife, of nineteen (to whom he had been 
four years married), to his father's house, near Montreal. ' An' 
won't she be glad to see me back. I wouldn't change my gal for 
any gal in the States, or in Canada either.' Jamie is a sober, 
handy fellow. I feel sure he is a good husband, as he certainly 
made a thoughtful, intelligent attendant on us two women in the 
Bush. The Governor fell in with Mr. Wood, of Kaquette Lake, 
at Arnold's, and engaged him to see us safely through the con- 
cluding passage of our travels ; but, as the only chance of getting 
assistance to meet us, it was necessary to send him on. Mr. 
Seymour must always be considered a brave man, for having 
undertaken alone, to take us that day's walk ; but having never 
passed through this track before, he was happily not fully aware 
of what he undertook, or he confesses he should have been afraid. 
The path we had to follow was a road cut through the forest fifty 
years ago ; planks had been laid down and corduroy bridges 
made ; but, as no settlement followed, left to entire neglect, the 
rotten timbers only made bad worse ; and I imagine that it would 
be impossible to find anywhere a track so difficult to get over as 
that through which we patiently laboured for ten consecutive 
heurs. Mr. Seymour's patience and good humour never gave 
vyay. Putting off the packages on his back, he now extricated 
one companion, now another, from a boggy ' fix.' I never shall 
forget the astonishment of Mr. Stephens, of yacht celebrity, when, 
on horseback with another gentleman and guides, he met us 
emerging from the Bush ! They had four horses ; and our avant- 
courier, Mr. Wood, had secured one of them, upon which I 
mounted; and, although it was not easy to keep my seat upon a 



EARLY MEMORIES. 391 

man's saddle in getting over such ground, I soon found the benefit 
of being carried on the last few miles by some other agency than 
my own feet, Mr. Seymour and his niece walked on ; in one 
mile more we again reached the Moose River, and crossed it in a 
boat ; and another two hours brought us to the clearing, where a 
small wagon was procured — rough enough, but still a wagon — 
which took us to a comfortable hotel, at the small town of Bon- 
ville, from whence, after a good night's rest, we got on by coach 
and cars to Utica. A singular and touching circumstance oc- 
curred to me in the coach. An old man and a younger one 
conversed in Welsh. I could not help inquiring what part of 
Wales they came from, for that tongue awoke in my heart early 
memories. The old man knew Caermarthen ; had been at Aberg- 
willy, and spoke of my father as ' that charity man.' David 
Owen was quite blind ; but that meeting was pleasant to us both. 
After fifty years, to hear one's father's name spoken of with 
respect and afi"ection, in this far distant land ! There are many 
Welsh people settled hereabouts. Owen's home was a small 
village near Trenton Falls. As we passed over a bridge, — 
' Now,' he said, ' we are near my home.' 
* Not being able to see, how do you know that ? ' 
' Ah ! do I not understand the voice of that bridge ? ' And 
one or two miles beyond, the old man and I parted, he shaking 
me by the hand, with his blessing. Three days at Utica were 
necessary to recruit and repose myself. Now I write from Ca- 
nandaigua, on the eve of starting for Chicago and St. Louis. 

Buffalo^ September 27. — We left Canandaigua at ten this 
morning ; but, having reached this place by four, we cannot pro- 
ceed till half-past nine o'clock. By travelling all night, we may 
arrive at Chicago to-morrow evening, and be at St. Louis next 
day. 

Chicago, Friday night. — We have travelled four hundred and 
ninety-two miles since ten o'clock last night ; very rapidly and 
pleasantly to-day, only changing cars at Toledo. The previous 
night's journey was a crowded one ; a great number of the men in 
the carriages indulged themselves in the habits of the backwoods, 



392 AMERICAN AND ENGLISH SOLDIERS. 

which made them very unpleasant neighbours, although their ap- 
pearance was respectable; and T was glad of a change which gave 
us another set of fellow-travellers. The country between this 
j^lace and Cleveland is in a rapid course of settlement. There is 
not an evergreen of any kind to be seen — neither firs, spruce, nor 
cedars ; the forest consists entirely of ' hard ' wood trees, of which 
there is a great variety — chiefly beech, oak, plane, ash, and pop- 
lar. I did not observe much hickory, or any acacias ; and, as the 
timber is not on the whole of great size, I suppose there is less 
difficulty in making clearings in this district than in some others 
I have passed through. Numerous towns are starting up — as 
usual, with names not particularly well selected. 

After Toledo, we passed through Hudson, Hillsdale, Jones- 
villC; Coldwater, White Pigeon, &c., &c. On approaching Chi- 
cago, the country begins to acquire a prairie character ; and I saw 
such large fields of grain, and so many signs of improved farming, 
that but for snake-fences, I could have believed myself in some 
parts of England. A rolling district, dotted by small lakes, pre- 
vails about Hillsborough, while for a hundred miles this side 
Lake Erie the forests are flat and undiversified. In marshy plains, 
bilious fevers are common. I was told that sleeping in respira- 
tors is a certain preventive. I wonder whether this has been tried 
at Norfolk, where there has been of late such dreadful pestilence. 
During our journey here, I heard of the Fail of Sebastopol — sad, 
sad carnage. My anxiety to know the names of those w4io ha^e 
last sacrificed themselves for England and duty must, perhaps, re- 
main unappeased for days. Friends and friends' sons still there 
to be risked — heroes and Cornelias : they will have their reward. 

During our mountain expedition I was struck by the one fact 
which gives American armies an advantage in warfare — the practi- 
cal rifle skill which backwoods' sport cultivates. Our guides always 
took off the head of a squirrel with their guns, to avoid (as they 
said) ' injuring the skin,' so that every American soldier is a good 
marksman, while many of England's brave peasantry, though will- 
ing and ready to fight, hardly know (upon their first enlistment) 
how to fire ofl" a shot. This morning, I remarked a circumstance 



UN COURTEOUS MANNERS, 803 

which has before attracted my observation travelling in railroad 
cars. Men in the garb of gentlemen, and who would be indig- 
nant at being addressed by any other appellation, were busy help- 
ing one another to drams of brandy in the early morning. Quart 
bottles of spirits extracted from carpet-bags is no uncommon sight. 
This habit is rather illustrative of that aristocratic law which 
denies liberty of action to the poor and sick, while it does not 
trench upon the freedom of the rich and luxurious. Have fanatics 
who advocate this law ever considered that the same principle 
might be applied to the ' Tree of the knowledge of good and evil ? ' 
Would not these people have preached to the Saviour upon the 
impropriety of his first miracle, or the dangers of the sacramental 
wine ? About forty miles from Chicago we passed the first 
prairie town of Joliet. Before entering it there is a cutting 
through a kind of alluvial conglomerate, formed of gravel, sand, 
and round water- worn pebbles ; and around it there are well cul- 
tivated farms, backed by forests ; large fields of grain, and nu- 
merous herds of cattle. "We soon traversed a prairie, and saw 
wide, wide plains covered with grass and flowers on every side. 
It is too late for the great beauty of the flowers. Now there are 
but few in but Asters, Coreopsis, and Solidagos. After Bloom- 
ington where we stopped to dine, nothicg could be more bleak 
and dreary than the towns, or rather villages, among them Lin- 
coln, Chatham, Girard ; the population squalid and dirty ; nothing 
looking clean but the white painted wooden houses, scattered 
over the black trod-down prairies ; not a fence, not a bush, not a 
garden. These places appear to me much more desolate than 
any forest clearings ; there you can, at any rate, make large fires 
to enliven the scene. Our journey was unpleasant : in the day it 
rained, and every window would have been closed if I had not 
kept mine open with a parasol before it. At night a rough-look- 
ing set of men opened every glass wide. Whatever the mornings 
may be, almost all nights in America are cold. A superabun- 
dance of air in the cars is not often to be complained of; but I 
have seldom met with any consideration for ladies in this particu- 
lar. In travelling to Chicago, when I had a small bit of my own 
17* 



394 UNCOURTEODS MANNERS. 

window open, a gentleman three seats off came and put it down, 
with out any rec^uest or one word of apology. No room for more 
in this letter. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



LETTER XXX. 



St. Loms, Missouri. U. S., ) 
October 1, 1S55. f 

My dear Friends, — 

It was almost twelve o'clock at night when the Reindeer 

steamer landed R and me at this place. The river voyage 

of twenty-five miles was a most unexpected termination of our 
long railroad journey from Chicago. It seems this line is just 
on the point of being opened to a terminus at St. Louis,* and 
meanwhile a kind of mystery (very commonly thrown around un- 
finished rail lines) has enveloped the communication between this 
place and Chicago. I was assured of going through, but the 
manner and the means were left unexplained, and it was with 
some surprise that I found myself transferred from an omnibus 
into a steamboat, instead of a hotel. Upon landing, I deter- 
mined not to invade my proposed hosts. Dr. and Mrs. P , at 

that time of night ; so after procuring a carriage, we drove to 
the Planters' Hotel, where I had the most reasonable charge for 
a night's lodging and breakfast that I have paid in America : and 
after breakfast, my friends came and removed us to their own 
comfortable house. In the afternoon, they drove me to see the 

Cemetery, and also to visit Mrs. P 's father and mother, a 

few miles out of town. Colonel O'F has a very singular 

and interesting place, built on the site of some aboriginal city, 

* Since I left America a teriible accident has occurred, by the fall of a 
brid<2ce. 



396 BT. LOUIS. 

and upon the summit of one of the ancient mounds. In digging 
foundations, hundreds of skeletons of a very old type were found ; 
stone hatchets ; and, among other relics, one delicately worked 
small mocassin. The trees which now shade (and so bury the 
dwelling that but a very small peep of the Mississippi can be ob- 
tained from its portico) were, with the exception of one poplar, 

all planted by Colonel O'F . He purchased a considerable 

estate there forty years ago, and has a charming garden, with 
some of the finest Magnolias macrophylla, pumila, and purpurea 
I ever saw, excepting in the forests round Mobile : magnificent 
evergreens. Ilex opaca, Red cedars, and various pinuses ; Ipomoea, 
Quamoclit, and Coccinea, forming bowers six feet high, and rose 
bushes fifteen in height. I brought away the first ri^Dcned seed- 
vessel of Magnolia macrophylla I ever saw. I think this tree, 
flowers and fruit, still handsomer than grandiflora ; the leaves arc 
larger and finer, although neither so dark, shining, or persistent 
as those of the grandiflora, and the flowers also are larger, though 
not so numerous. In the evening, the Botanist, Dr. Engelmann 
(introduced by a note from Dr. Gray) called, and gave me much 

information; my pleasant friends Dr. and Mrs. L also. 

October 2. — Dr. L came before nine in the morning, and 

drove me out to see various parts of the town and environs. I 
wished to make a sketch or two, but it was difiicult to find any 
spot from whence the Mississippi and the city could be made 
picturesque, and there would have been no satisfaction in a mere 
bird's-eye view. At last I drew the great river, with that now 
small village upon the opposite bank, called Cahokia, a place 
which was once of importance, but which St. Louis has supplanted 
and so completely eclipsed, that its name is hardly known beyond 
its immediate vicinity. I made one more drawing looking back 
upon St. Louis, taking as foreground one of the most picturesque 
and singular limekilns I ever saw ; it is so rare to find a pictur- 
esque bit of building in America, even a limekiln. My pleasant 
kind friend then took me to see Dr. Englemanu, where, upon a 
small lead at the back of his liUle town house (which was trel- 
lised by a Catawba vine, in full liearing), is to be seen tlie most 



. CHICAGO. 397 

rare and curious collection of Yucas and Cacti, cultivated this 
side of the Atlantic ; most of them from Mexico. The Doctor 
kindly gave me a little box of seedlings, which I hope to import 
safely into England. These objects of interest delayed my re- 
turn to Dr. and Mrs. P until after their dinner hour. I 

was easily forgiven ; but they and some friends were waiting. 

We spent the evening with Dr. and Mrs. L . Although I 

was obliged to be on board the steamer at six, I did not go to 
rest till two o'clock in the morning. 

Chicago^ October 8. — A beautiful day ; and as Lake Michigan 
is the only path by which I can hope to attain Mackinaw and the 
Sault St. Marie, after reaching Milwaukie by railroad, fine weather 
is of great importance ; but the elements have been unceasingly 
good-natured to me : ever since I left the shores of England, rain 
or sunshine has always come at the right time for my particular 
objects, and if this good fortune will only continue till the second 
week in November, and see me well across the Atlantic again, I 
shall have the greatest reason to be thankful. 

Now I must go back to my leaving St. Louis yesterday morn- 
ing. After performing every other act of hospitality and kindness 

possible, Dr. and Mrs. P and Dr. L were up at five ; the 

two gentlemen accompanied me to the Reindeer steamer, and re- 
mained till the starting-bell rung. At St. Louis I have left a 
valuable and valued friend, even if in this phase of existence I 
meet him no more. "We steamed away from the first forest of 
only funnels I ever beheld. At New Orleans there was also an 
immense assemblage of steamers, but there I saw also sailing- 
vessels, boats, masts : at St. Louis no boats but steamers ; no sails, 
no masts. It was a striking object for contemplation, not a pic- 
turesque one certainly — still full of meaning. Some of the names, 
too, were suggestive — Reothuk, Shenandoah, Monongahela — In- 
dian sounds, poetical and characteristic, and appropriate to the 
waters of the Mississippi and the Missouri, which fall in about 
twenty miles above St. Louis. We saw the junction of these 
streams, and saw, too, how the heavy molten waters of the Mis- 
souri contaminate the purity of the L^pper Mississippi. For a 



398 

short distance that bright bluo river keeps apart from his unin- 
viting comrade, but he cannot long avoid contact ; his azure robes 
are first spotted, then soiled, and at last thej are miserably and 
hopelessly discoloured and embrowned, and they must roll on hun- 
dreds of miles, and pass New Orleans a muddy compound, until 
they are purified, but lost in the sapphire waves of the Mexican 
Gulf. 

We reached Alton about nine o'clock : it is a pretty place, 
which I did not see in the dark on Saturday ; the last forty miles, 
too, of that journey was through a rather fine country, not prairie, 
but woody. Before leaving the Reindeer steamer, I had some 
conversation with a sensible lady from Chicago, who regretted the 
way in which the great majority of American young women are 
sacrificing health to vanity. She agrees that it is not so much 
climate as bad management which crowds the cemetary with early 
victims. An idea has gone forth that fragility is interesting, and 
young ladies almost cultivate ill-health ! She told me that, stand- 
ing at her own door one morning, she observed three girls between 
twelve and fourteen passing to school ; it was damp weather : 
these children were lightly and showily attired, with thin silk 
slippers to set off their feet to advantage — instead of good sub- 
stantial boots. These kind of absurdities are common in the 
United States. I have found out a reason why ladies travelling 
alone must be extravagantly dressed ; without that precaution 
they meet with no attention and little civility, — decidedly much 
less than in any other country. So here it is not as women but 
as ladies, they are to be cared for ! — and this in Democratic 
America ! 

I saw flocks of prairie birds, both going and coming ; and I 
was told that they are a kind of grouse, generally called ' prairie 
chickens.' If they were roasted as we roast game in England, they 
would be very good : I have only tasted them broiled, so as to be 
dry and hard. There was nothing which struck my fancy, in the 
manner of expression, as peculiar in prairie life. I no longer hear 
the singular affirmation ' Yes, sirree,' or ' No, sirree,' which was 
made use of among the Adirondack Mountains, to express some- 
thing very positive. 



MILWAUKIE. 399 

Ocioher 3, Milwaukie. — I am brought to a stand-still. We 
arrived at Chicago too late for the Mackinaw steamer of yester- 
day. I was told that by taking the cars here early this morning, 
we should get a lake conveyance ; but, on reaching this place, not 
only my hope of a steamer till Friday is vain, but owing to what 
is called a State fair, it has been with the greatest difficulty that 
I have procured a tiny bed-room in a secondary hotel. The town, 
though scattered and extensive, is crammed to overflowing. I 
am glad to observe that in these parts the taste of the settlers in- 
duces them to preserve the Indian names. We passed to-day by 
several places, such as Waakeyau, Shenosha, &c. ; near the last- 
mentioned town I observed a beautiful Gentian, growing in dry 
places by the side of the track. I do not know one exactly like 
it ; the colour was as brilliant as Bavarica, but several inches 
taller. 

The site of Milwaukie upon Lake Michigan is supposed to 
have been once covered by its waters, and fresh-water shells are 
found in the elevations behind the city. 

On Saturday morning I may reach Mackinaw, in the steamer 
Niagara^ but the delay I have met with puts an end to all hope 
of my reaching Lake Superior, as Saint Marie is too distant, and 
1 must follow the Coilingwood line from Lake Michigan across 
Lake Huron, then to Toronto by land, and by Lake Ontario to 
Oswego, so as to reach Utica on Monday. 

Thursday, October 4:. — Yesterday afternoon I set forth upon 
a voyage of discovery, to find out a spot from which I might take 
a sketch of the city. Making my way over a bridge to higher 
ground, it was evident that the present site of Milwaukie was once 
covered by water ; below some bluffs, a mile and a half from the 
present lake, there is a most distinct beach, and shells are found 
just beyond. The town authorities are going to great expense to 
cut through and level these bluffs, which, left as they are, would 
diversify and ornament their town. This levelling process will 
puzzle future geologists. I think the water here tastes of iron. 
By-the-bye, I quite forgot to mention the wonderful Iron Moun- 
tain of Missouri, situated in St. Francis County, about eighty 



400 IRON MOUNTAIN. 

miles south-west or south of St. Louis : it rises to a height two 
hundred and sixty feet above the surrounding country, and there 
is said to be many million tons of ore above the surface ! It is 
known as specular oxide, and yields from sixty to seventy per 
cent, of pure iron. There is also the Pilot Knob, Shepherd's 
Mountain, and other valuable deposits in Madison County, on the 
line of the Iron Mountain Railroad. These deposits vary in their 
character and produce ; and yield iron adapted to various pur- 
poses. There are immense works and forges erected in Franklin 
County. About fifty miles west of St. Louis are large iron works, 
and in various other localities along the Mississippi ; abundance 
of iron is found also at that place on the Macamaco, where iron 
has been manufactured for some years past. The South-west 
branch of the Pacific Railroad passes through extensive deposits 
of minerals — iron, copper, lead, and coal sufficient to work all the 
mines on the line ; indeed, it is believed the metalliferous region 
of Missouri covers an area of near thirteen millions of acres : it 
also extends into Arkansas and the Indian territory ; that coun- 
try is said to be all magnesian limestone, rich in lead. It sur- 
prises me to hear that the Iron Mountain is thickly timbered : I 
should have expected it to be devoid of trees of any size. I 
made my sketch this morning, from a house belonging to Mr. 

G , which stands upon an isolated bluff, the earth having 

been so cut away all around it as to leave the buildings above in 
a doubtful state of security. Mr. G told me they are seek- 
ing compensation for the injury done to their property, as it will 
be impossible for them to remain on it another year. I walked 
up to look at the fair, but as there was a great number of people, 
I was afraid to encounter so large a crowd, and kept aloof; at 
the same time I did not see one instance of intoxication or disor- 
der : the visitants were generally well attired, good-humoured, 
and quietly amusing themselves. In short, this State fair of Mil- 
waukie was a very creditable specimen of the conduct and civili- 
zation of the citizens of Wisconsin. 

This afternoon closes in with a wetting fog. I hope it does 
not intend to be so thick to-morrow as to drive me back to 



A WORD TO TRAVELLERS. 401 

Chicago ; for I will not embark on the lake and take the CoUing- 
wood line, unless the weather promises well, though I shall regret 
to return again via Toledo and Buffalo. 

MUivaukie, October 5. — At nine this morning I am told the 
Niagara has arrived ; and after a storm last night the weather is 
fine. 

On hoard ilie Niagara Sicamcr, October 6. — According to 
the usual fashion in this country of furnishing false information, 
after giving up my rooms and going down, bag and baggage, to 
the wharf, the only vessel there was a steamer going back to 
Chicago. Fortunately, at the steam agency office, I had fallen in 
T>^ith the principal agent for the CoUingwood line, to whom I feel 
indebted for a civility and attention I should not have received 
from his subordinates. He got my things safely taken care of 
before he was obliged to embark for Chicago, and did all in his 
power to facilitate my passage in the Niagara whenever she might 
arrive ; but six hours of tiresome waiting on that wharf, in very 
uncivilized company, ensued. At last, in despair, I went up to 
the office, with the idea of changing my ticket for the railroad. 
Evidently there was a great demur about allowing this. I had 
been unwise enough, upon the faith of the Niagara^s supposed ar- 
rival, to pay for my tickets through to Oswego. I recommend 
travellers in America never to take tickets in advance, beyond 
the first office, as, if anything occurs to make a change of route 
necessary, they must bear in mind that refund is a very bad fund. 
However, just as I had secured a carriage to remove my things 
from the wharf to the railroad, with a determination to go off, 
and take my chance of ultimate justice, the steamer was an- 
nounced to be in sight, and upon her reaching the dock we found 
that bad weather had delayed her departure from Chicago until 
eight in the morning, although a telegraphic message shown to 
me at the office stated she had left that port at one hour after 
midnight. Of course, if such had been the case, her delay of 
seven hours after the usual time gave reasonable cause for anxiety. 
Captain Miller was very obliging, and I immediately procured a 
comfortable berth, where I could rest after so many hours of sus- 
pense and anxiety. 



402 WANT OF CONSIDERATION. 

Of course, this detention puts Lake Superior and St. Marie 
out of the question. The doubt is, whether I can even attain 
TJtica by the day I am engaged to be there. If we reach Toronto 
too late, we may miss the steamer to Oswego, and be again de 
layed some hours. The lake is not very smooth : it still retains 
some agitation from the storm of Thursday, and I see many 
people suflfering from sickness ; however, it was well to be on shore 
during the bad weather. So far my delay was a fortunate one. 
Last night I suffered from an illustration of the want of thought 
and consideration for others, which appears to me to make itself 
more evident among the population, particularly of the young 
generation, in America than in Europe. Being much fatigued, 
I retired early, and the same thing was the case with a majority 
of passengers ; but there was a piano in the saloon, close to my 
berth. After ten o'clock at night, a young girl sat down to per- 
form — not harmonious music, for such a disturbance might have 
been forgiven ; but she perseveringly amused herself by striking 
the instrument in a style so utterly discordant, that, after a while 
of patient endurance, I opened my door, and inquired whether it 
was right at that time of night to keep the passengers from sleep- 
ing ? She repeated my words with an air of ludicrous imperti- 
nence, and, though she paused for a little while, before long the 
annoyance was continued, if not by her, by others, without the 
smallest excuse or apology I Thus do the rising generation here 
mistake rudeness for Republicanism, and selfishness for independ- 
ence ; but we must not be too hard upon them. As this great and 
growing nation advances in life and experience, it will advance 
also in civilization and true Christian politeness ; Rowdyism will 
cease to be considered manliness, or extravagance gentility. 
Noble American spirits are setting an example, correcting these 
errors. A few more years, and their influence will permeate and 
pervade the length and breadth of American society. As yet, 
that society is but roughed out — not polished : the polishing will 
follow in due time. 

Already in Boston I have remarked that simplicity and com- 
fort are advancing beyond ostentation ; dress and furniture there 



DARK ROOMS. 403 

evince more attention to suitability than to mere show. In every 
other part of the United States, with the exception of Mr. 
G 's, of Canandaigna, and one or two other houses, magnifi- 
cent curtains, expensive carpets, and fine mirrors, are more 
abounding than in England ; but useful tables, writing materials, 
and other little comforts we consider imperative, are wanting. 
That singular fashion — which is almost general — of making the 
drawing-room and parlours so obscure, that the inmates might as 
well live in cellars, is one reason why necessaries for employment 
are scarce. Tables would be almost useless where no one can see 
to write or draw. I have been told it is the heat of this climate 
\^ hich makes people thus darken their rooms ; but they have a 
long winter, and sunshine is as carefully excluded in cold weather 
as in hot ; besides, I never heard that in Italy there is such an 
intense love of obscurity. It has happened that I have opened 
a blind in some of the hotels ; and the chambermaid, upon enter- 
ing, rushed to close it with an air of as much alarm as if the 
sun was shining in to the injury of some valuable picture. 

This morning we have had some negro music ; two darkies 
singing duets, accompanying themselves with a guitar and violin. 
Their voices good, and (like those of most of the negroes) in per- 
fect tune. One song had a chorus imitative of barking dogs, which 
amused the younger passengers extremely. By eight at night we 
reached Mackinaw — that island, with a fort once known as Mich- 
ilimackinac, a name I had so often heard in my childhood from an 
old friend, whose husband served in the early American conflicts 
between the English and French, that I wished much to see the 
place which owned it, but it was too dark for much observation ; 
I could only tell that a fort is still in existence, and there is a 
large pointed rock, like a sugar-loaf. The town is small, with a 
population of about two thousand. A steamer lay alongside the 
wharf ; she proved to be the Lady Elgin, the very boat in which, 
if it had not been for false information, we should have embarked 
on Tuesday night, at Chicago. That apparent disappointment 
has proved an advantage, for she was disabled in the next day's 
storm ; and we escaped both fright and danger, while we should 
not have been advanced one mile on our voyage. 



404 THE * LADY ELGIN.' 

Toronto^ Ocioher 8. — We arrived at Collingwood by seven 
o'clock this morning, after a tedious and anxious passage from 
Mackinaw — anxiety for others more than for ourselves. As the 
Lady Elgin was not considered in a safe position at that place, 
and had no means there of repairing her damages, our captain de- 
cided upon taking her in tow. The following night and day 
proved rough ; and, if the heaving of the vessel had caused the 
towing lines to give way, it would have been impossible for the 
Niagara to have afiorded more assistance. What an awful con- 
sideration that such an accident would have obliged us to leave 
the unfortunate Lady Elgin and her passengers to their fate ; 
which (as she was quite helpless) would probably have been a 
watery grave. It was a great relief when once we passed Lake 
Huron and the lower end of the Georgian Bay, for then appre- 
hension was over. 

During this voyage we saw the Manitoolia Islands, and Fox 
and Duck Islands ; of course I abandoned all notion of Sault St. 
Marie and Lake Superior. The cars received us upon landing at 
CoUingwood ; and passing by Lake Simcoe, I was glad, after 
travelling ninety miles before breakfast, to reach this place by 
eleven o'clock. At nine in the evening we must embark upon 
Lake Ontario, in the Canada steamer for Oswego. I shall be 
glad when my last voyage upon these inland seas is happily accom- 
plished. Again we were subjected to false information, although 
I sent down to the agent who had charge of the baggage (which 
was checked through to Oswego) to ask for the steamer belonging 

to the CoUingwood line. R was informed that our passage 

must be made in the Canada. 

' Are you sure that is the CoUingwood line ? ' she asked ; and 
was answered, ' Oh, it is all one.' Yet, when we showed our 
tickets upon going on board the steamer, we were informed that 
they were useless, and that our passage must be again paid for ; 
besides which, we then found that our baggage had been previ- 
ously sent at five o'clock by the Mayflower ; so there was the in- 
convenience of its absence added to additional expense. Our 
night voyage across Lake Ontario was a quiet and safe one ; the 



SILURIAN FOSSILS, 405 

Canada is a fine large steamer. We reached Oswego by eight 
o'clock, and if it had not been for unexpected delays in attaining 
the landing wharf, we should have been in time for the nine 
o'clock train to Syracuse; but as it was we had to wait, with as 
much patience as we might, until half-past eleven. 

By three o'clock I reached Utica, to find a never-failing cor- 
dial reception from my friends there. In the course of the after- 
noon Mrs. Seymour took me to see Colonel Jowett's fine collec- 
tion of Silurian fossils; there I found very curious and unique 
specimens of the early crustaceans, a great variety of Trilobites, 
and some things I never before heard of; the most singular were 
found at Niagara and Trenton. Colonel Jowett was so obliging 
as to offer me some duplicates, which I shall like much to have. 
At night I took leave of Governor and Mrs. Seymour, and parted 
from them with a deep and grateful sense of the untiring and af- 
fectionate kindness they have evinced towards me during the 
past year. The early train for Albany started at five o'clock in 
the morning, and I reached Awastanook, near Lenox, sufiiciently 
early for a pleasant drive in the afternoon. 

Thursday^ October 10. — Mr. D went with me in search of 

a white rose I saw blowing last Julj^ upon Rattlesnake Mountain, 
as the season is now favourable for taking up suckers. We were 
successful in finding an abundant crop, and I am rather in hopes 
that this Awastanook rose will prove a novelty to the botanical 
world. 

Thursday afternoon, and all Friday, the rain poured down in 
torrents ; I thought myself fortunate in being comfortably housed, 
and that this storm did not catch us on Lake Ontario. 

Saturday. — The morning, though cloudy, was only wet under- 
foot ; a carriage was ordered, and I drove with one of my friends, 
to fulfil a promise I had made to an occupant of the farm from 
which I had made a sketch of Lenox and the surrounding coun- 
try, that she should see the drawing. We found with her two 
intelligent young women ; daughters I conclude. The premises 
resembled a comfortable English farm ; a large spinning-wheel 
was in use in the parlour. I observed maps, and other indica- 



406 INDIAN NAMES. 

tions of education, with a certain degree of refinement ; and all 
the inmates evinced an intense and delighted interest in my 
sketch ; they expressed the most lively gratitude for being allowed 
to see it, and eagerly pointed out every familiar tree and cottage. 
In return, I learned the Indian name of that pretty lake, on the 
borders of which Hawthorne wrote his Seven Gables — Macki- 
naw^ — ' the Mountain Mirror ; ' what an improvement upon that 
un-euphonious appellation of Stockb ridge Pond ! 

Monday^ October 16. — This morning at nine o'clock I must 
take leave of Awastanook forever. Thankful for my enjoyment 
of its lovely scenery, and convinced, too, that this spot will ever 
remain impressed upon my memory, as a 'Mountain Mirror,' 
which to me has reflected only truth and beauty. 

Boston^ October 16. — Although I came by railroad from the 
Berkshire Hills last summer, I was yesterday still more strongly 
impressed by the beautiful country it passes through ; perhaps the 
late rains have embrowned and deepened the rapid torrents and 
numerous lakes of that Highland district; while crimson and 
golden tints added brilliancy to forests which are at all times va- 
ried in foliage. I could only regret tliat almost all the houses 
and farms are so very white and uniform in appearance ; I did 
once see a sky-blue stable, and occasionally a red barn, and such 
colours were quite a relief to the monotony. How subdued and 
quiet the grey stone buildings of England will look, after the al- 
most universal white paint of American erections. 

I find myself again under that friendly roof which sheltered 
me first, and promises to shelter me last on this side of the At- 
lantic ; as I shall embark on the 24th, upon my homeward 
voyage, this will probably be the conclusion of my letters. Be- 
fore closing them, I must once more return to the subject of 
Slavery : in the first place, to extract a few observations from a 
letter written by a gentleman of known experience and ability ; 
and then to answer an accusation made against me by some 
Northern friends, who afiirm that I have not spent sufficient 
time among slaves and slaveholders to judge fairly. My cor- 
respondent says : — * The phenomenon of African Slavery, as it ia 



REMARKS ON SLAVERY. 407 

sometimes called, is in truth no phenomenon at all. Where 
is the country, or the period of history, wherein slavery did not 
exist in some shape or the other ? Slavery has always existed, 
and will continue, as long as there is a disparity in the intellect 
and energy of men. I do not enter into the question of the 
Unity of Races, which is supposed to be derived from Bible au- 
thority : it will be sufficient to assert that this race, known as 
African, is inferior to the Caucasian. As a people, the blacks are 
sensual and stupid, lazy, improvident, and vicious ; unless under 
guidance, they have no idea of cherishing those virtues which 
elevate our common nature ; they have an alacrity for sinking — 
nothing more. In their own country they are either savages 
or slaves. There is at this time, and there have been for lonjr 
periods, a large number of free coloured people in the slave- 
holding and non-slaveholding States of the Union ; but even 
constant attrition against Yankee sharpness and shrewdness, 
has failed to elicit one scintillation of talent or genius from this 
race. When they pass from bondage, it is only to swell the 
volume of insignificance or vice which has characterized their 
past history. But besides this, I would remark that we should 
reflect upon the fact of Slavery, more than upon the manner 
of its regulation. The Virginian negro, who is held by law as 
a slave, is really little more a slave than the man who works 
in the mines and manufactories of England. The first is held 
in subjection by a well-devised system of police, the other by a 
necessity stronger than any police. It is no answer to say 
that the Englishman can, if he chooses, leave his employer ; 
that power only exists in theory, as the penalty for severing his 
bonds is starvation. H is real master is Capital — which, being 
in its nature greedy, grasping, and selfish, it doles out to human 
labour the smallest possible amount which will sustain life, and 
keep the working machine in due order. There are three mil- 
lions of slaves in the United States, and they constitute the 
only black people who are progressing in civilization and Chris- 
tianity — who are orderly, quiet, contented, and industrious. 
They are well fed, well clad, and in physical comforts will com- 



408 REMARKS ON SLAVERY. . 

pare advantageously with the same number of operatives in any 
part of Europe. 

' The only favourable results j^et marked out for the African 
race are due to the American system of slavery ; and until ex- 
perience shall have demonstrated that some other policy -will re- 
sult in greater blessings to the negro, I cannot but regard efforts 
to abolish the present state of things as thoughtless and unwise, 
if not unjust and inhuman.' 

So much for the opinion of a good man who has long studied 
the question here. My visit to the South may not have enabled 
me to ferret out and investigate all the evils there may be to 
discover there, and it would be absurd to ignore the possible ex- 
istence of cruel masters and ill-used slaves ; but I saw nothing, 
and heard very little, which would substantiate accusations ; yet 
early rising and active habits gave me opportunities of using my 
eyes and ears, in the fields and the forests^and in places where 
not many travellers would be suspected. The varied aspects of 
New York, and Paris, and London, are dwelt upon and described 
every day, and yet how few writers think it necessary to seek out 
and reprobate the slave-holders of those cities. Now I hear it 
said — ' Bad things may be done in free countries, but they are 
not done legally.' 

The abuses of slavery are no less illegal ; and let us confess, 
and acknowledge repentantly, how cruelly England, or rather 
English law, did first neglect, and then persecute children, human 
beings born, and perhaps nurtured in crime, through the indo- 
lence and negligence of society. Then, because of the very weak- 
ness and ignorance thus induced and fastened upon these helpless 
ones, have they not been incarcerated in prisons ? denied those 
very occupations and exercises positively necessary for the moral, 
intellectual, and physical improvement of growing creatures ? 
and when at last the consequences of such treatment became evi- 
denced by an increase of vicious propensities, the poor outcasts, if 
not legally murdered according to ancient law, have at any rate 
been whipped and tormented until their hands were raised against 
every man, as those of every man have been against them ! 



EPILOGUE. 409 

Of late years tlie British people have opened their eyes, and 
they have been looking into, and endeavouring to remedy, such 
evils ; and surely every nation has work enough to do at home ; 
and if each will only put aside distant, and perhaps ignorant phi- 
lanthropy, until they have done their own immediate business, the 
world will be in a fair way to be mended ; and those crimes and 
sorrows which affect the white race quite as heavily and pitiably 
'as Slave Institutions press upon the black, will rapidly become 
ameliorated and consoled. 

In the meanwhile, if the observations in these letters jar 
against commonly-received and long-cherished opinions and prin- 
ciples, I am sorry to differ. Let it be remembered that every 
case has two sides. Hitherto, of Slavery one side only has been 
made prominent. It will be admitted by most intelligent think- 
ers, that open discussion is useful; and if I have drawn mis- 
taken conclusions, they must ultimately rectify themselves. I am 
not conscious of being imbued with a spirit of partisanship ; and 
I trust nothing I have said will arouse feelings of bitterness, or 
in any degree wound that kind spirit, through and by which 
alone this subject should be approached. 

These letters were hastily written, sent off by post uncopied, 
and generally uncorrected. They ask for indulgence ; but, as I 
have always believed that the fresh impressions of any commonly 
intelligent observer must have some degree of interest, so I make 
Qo further apology for this publication ; and I shall only add one 
or two more suggestions with regard to Slavery. If that indi- 
genous earth-nut, from which such a quantity of oil is, or can 
be, expressed, were to meet with sufficient encouragement upon 
the African coasts, and if the Blockading Squadron were ex- 
changed for merchant-ships to carry away the produce, the traffic 
in slaves would gradually be given up for a more remunerative 
'-''cupation, and it would be one which might absorb all the sur- 
plus black labor. Commercial remedies are the only certain and 
legitimate slavery preventives. By using them, we should save 
white lives as well as black lives, and white money as well as 
black interests ; and if the slaveholders in the South American 



410 EPILOGUE. 

States can be icduced to co-operate with us in the Christianizing 
and civilizing of Africa by a law which may enable all those 
black slaves who, showing sufficient economy and forethought to 
save money for self-purchase, are willing to buy themselves, on 
condition of going to Africa, much good can be accomplished. 
It is my belief, you may as well attempt to improve the morals, 
and add to the happiness of idiots, by turning them out of asy- 
lums, as to imagine you can benefit the ' darkies ' by abolitionism. 

Yours affectionately, 

A. M. M. 



If any wishes should be expressed for the publication of a 
series of Sketches which would illustrate these volumes, Messrs. 
Willis of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, have authority t-o 
receive applications concerning it. 

December, 1855. 



THE END. 



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